Starkiller reporting mission failed
by Evil Nazgul
Summary: Yet another star wars/digimon crossover. A request made by Rubberman2025. Starkiller is send on a mission in the outer Rim, but something goes not according to plan. Digimon, the Force, and evil organizations included. R&R, please. P.S: I don't own anythg
1. Crashlanding

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 1 – Crash-landing.

This story is a request made by Rubberman2025. Thank you very much for making this request, it means so very much to me. This is a crossover between star wars and digimon (again). Main hero – Starkiller (Galen Marek). Alright. Here goes nothing.

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… A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… a lone starship was making its way through the deep voids of space. For many days it was flying towards its destination – an uninhabited planet somewhere in the Outer Rims of the galaxy. The ship was called "The Rogue Shadow", it was not your average transport ship. It was special, unique. A pinnacle in its class, it was built in complete secrecy, and all who constructed it perished in accidents or street crimes to ensure their silence. Its purpose was to allow traveling covertly throughout the galaxy.

Its owner was something special as well. His name was not registered anywhere in the imperial logs, and there were very few who knew who he was and lived to tell the tale. To those few who knew of his existence he was known as Starkiller. That was not his real name, but people like him do not have names, or history, for safety reasons. Starkiller was an assassin. But not just any assassin, his targets were very specific.

He was trained to hunt down and kill Jedi, or anyone who was Force – sensitive and dangerous to the Empire. Jedi were tough targets, conventional weapons didn't work at them. In order to comprehend such target Starkiller was trained in their ways, but no one other than Lord Vader. Yes, Starkiller also was a Force-sensitive, but the one loyal to the Empire and Lord Vader personally.

The other two who knew him were his pilot, Juno Eclipse, and his droid companion, PROXY. Juno was a remarkable pilot, she was hand-picked to be Starkiller's pilot. PROXY was special as well. PROXY was equipped with advanced hologram technology that, when coupled with his built-in servos, would allow him to change appearance and adopt a wide range of disguises. He could also present messages: he would turn holographically into the sender, and the sender would say the message. Also, when Starkiller wanted information on an individual, PROXY would turn into that person and access databases to confirm his/her identity.

Juno, however, was not present at the ship this time. Starkiller was tasked to undertake the task with only his droid accompanying him. The task was to eliminate a rogue Jedi who was hiding on the planet below. Perhaps he thought that no one would come searching for him here, on a deserted planet, protected by a dense asteroid field which was all that remained of the planet's moon…

"Master, master, are you alright?" the static-filled voice of his droid companion managed to get Starkiller out of his trance. It seemed that from time to time he was losing touch with reality, concentrating on his thoughts.

"I am alright." Starkiller replied shortly. This mission was pretty average to him – go, find, kill the Jedi, leave no witnesses. And it began as all his missions began – by a contact from his master via PROXY…

… "What is thy bidding, my master?" Starkiller inquired, kneeling before the holographic image of his master. Large black figure, covered with a cloak, with a sinister-looking helmet covering the scarred face - that image Starkiller remembered with fear, it was what came for him long, long ago, destroyed his life, and then rebuilt it again… The image of his master always seemed to make everything look darker in the room, haunting.

"There is a disturbance … in the Force. It must be … silenced. The coordinates are transferred to your navycomputer as we speak. I do not need to remind you the price of failure." His master's low, grim voice, jammed by the respiratory systems, was giving chills to anyone, but Starkiller learned to live with that.

"As you command, my lord." Starkiller replied as the image of his master disappeared into particles, making PROXY reappear again in its standard droid appearance.

"I hate being him." The droid commented as he regained his appearance again. That was the phrase he used every time after turning from being Vader.

"I think he doesn't like it either. Not much fun being encased in a shell and be kept alive by it. C'mon, we've got a job to do…" Starkiller grumped as he left the chamber, with his droid close behind…

… Starkiller was repeating this scene again and again in his head, for no good reason, with the sole purpose of killing time. But this time of boredom came to an end as they approached the asteroid field surrounding the planet.

It was quite dense. Thousands of small moving asteroids were posing danger to any ship that would dare sneaking through it, and most certainly tare to shreds any unskilled pilot. Fortunately, Starkiller was skilled in flying a ship on his own, and was more than capable of flying through the stony blockade.

But today he was not so certain of it. He had a so-called "gut feeling" ever since the beginning of the mission. But he knew, as a Force adept, that there were no such things as "gut feelings", there is only the Force. And the Force was warning him of the danger that might lie ahead.

"PROXY, activate scanners, cloaking devise, and keep our ion emissions to a minimum. Angle the deflector shields to the front." Starkiller gave the commands to his droid who was operating the systems.

"Do you expect trouble, master?" the droid inquired.

"I always expect trouble. This asteroid field is a perfect spot for a hidden pirate base. I do not want to fly right into their jaws…" its master replied as they both waited for scan to complete. In less than a minute a quick scan of the surrounding area was complete.

"The scan shows no sign of any activity within the field, master… Hmm, that's odd…" PROXY commented with a degree of amazement as it analyzed the data input.

"What is it?" Starkiller replied as he approached the view screen.

"It seems that many asteroids have a gas layer around them. The gas is very explosive, a sudden ion discharge or a stray blaster shot and the whole field might explode. It is unlikely that pirates have a base within the field, the risk of being blown to smithereens is just too high, and we all know that pirate raiding ships are usually badly maintained." The droid replied. And it had a point – no one in decent mind would do such a thing.

"Could the Force be mistaking about this one? Hmm… Very well, let's proceed forward, very carefully…" Starkiller ordered and returned to his pilot seat. Unseen to scanners and naked eye, the "Rogue shadow" entered the field, elegantly dodging and weaving, avoiding collision with asteroids…

… But the Force is never wrong. And if you think it may be wrong, you better double-check your own position again. Because nothing is certain. The ship went inside, masked from all conventional methods of detecting it. All, except one.

Since the Great Jedi Purge many of the surviving Jedi went into exile, hiding from imperial operatives searching for them. Some, constantly hounded, decided not to run, but to fight for their lives. The one Starkiller was sent after was one such case…

The scan showed nothing in the asteroid field, because nothing out there was emanating energy or heat signatures. Because with all systems offline nothing can emanate any. And the disturbance in the Force was caused not by a mere accident, but was a part of a plan… A plan to lure anyone who was sent to investigate into the asteroid field.

Among asteroids, hidden from scanners and prying eyes, there was another ship drifting, lifeless… almost lifeless. An old ARC-170, that goes way back to the clone wars. It was an old, but effective ship, and was equipped with a hyperdrive.

Inside there were three people. The only one worth of our attention was a relatively old man as a pilot. His face had many scars, and was covered by a white beard. He looked like a Jedi, and he was a Jedi … long ago. Now, his passionless serenity of a true Jedi was replaced by hate and lust for vengeance, it's fires were burning bright.

"Err, are you sure the assassin is here?" one of co-pilots inquired.

"Yes, I can feel him in the Force. He masks his presence well, but not well enough to hide the power he possesses. Today the Emperor will lose one of his powerful servants… But let's wait. Let him go deeper into the asteroid field, so that he would not have any chances of escaping the blast…" the ex-Jedi replied as they waited for their victim…

… "The Jedi… He is here … somewhere. I can feel his presence." Starkiller said dimly after closing his eyes and trying to concentrate. He tried to feel a more precise location of his target, yet he failed to do so so far.

"Well that is good, master. The sooner you find him and dispatch him, the sooner we can get out of here." The droid replied while still monitoring the ship's movements.

"Yet… I sense … hate. He knows we are coming, but … how?" Starkiller posed a question to himself.

"Well, master, if you can sense his presence, I can only assume that he can sense you as well… But rest assured, master, if I, even with my most advanced lightsaber-combat techniques, failed with all of my attempts of completing my primary function, then an exile, whose skills were weakened without practice, won't stand a chance against you." PROXY encouraged his master, yet without much effect.

"I really hope so, but something just tells me things will not go according to plan…"

… "He-he-he, congratulations, everything goes according to plan, gentlemen. Now all we have to do is to close the trap. Activate all the systems and calculate the course for a hyperspace jump." The Jedi ordered his pilots, as he enjoyed anticipation. In less than a minute all systems were back online.

"Target the large asteroid. It will set up a chain explosion that will blow the whole field to hell." Another command came.

"Arming proton torpedo…" the co-pilot replied…

… "I'm peaking up some strange energy signals from the outer layer of the asteroid field, master… Like some sort of a small spacecraft…" the droid said with a bit of amazement and worry in his voice. Starkiller's eyes widened when he heard that.

"It's a trap! We have been discovered. Deactivate the cloaking devise and transfer all power to engines and deflector fields! Get us out of here!" he almost screamed as he started to push various buttons to input commands on the control panel.

The ship, which just a moment ago was graciously drifting through the asteroids, was now feverishly rushing out, dodging and evading the incoming rocks, in a valiant attempt to escape the explosion. What was supposed to be an "easy mission", turned out to be a life-threatening experience. That's what you get for underestimating the enemy.

"Master, by my calculations the blast will reach us in 8.3 seconds!" PROXY sounded desperate. Even a droid, it didn't like the idea of permanent deactivation.

"We have no choice! Activate the hyper engines! This is our only chance of survival!" Starkiller almost shouted, as his forehead was covering with sweat. He could feel the heat and the destructive energy of the blast gaining on them.

"Jump into hyperspace without an approach vector or coordinates, and in the middle of an asteroid field?! This is madness, master!!!" PROXY panicked.

"Either that or we're Peragus, get it?! Now do it!" Starkiller growled back.

"Yes, master. It was nice knowing you…" the droid replied rather pessimistically as it pushed several buttons on the control panel and activated the hyperdrive. With a flash, they disappeared into the void, in a completely random direction…

… A jump into hyperspace without coordinates or an approach vector is something of a last resort, which is used when the only alternative to it is death. Even so, many choose the variant of quick death in an explosion than to be tossed to a completely unknown space and die from hunger or other gruesome causes. These include: flying into a star, another asteroid field, or a planet. If you're incredibly lucky, you may actually save your skin and reappear somewhere safe, but that's rarely.

… "Rogue Shadow", severely battered from their daring escape from the explosion, finally crawled out of hyperspace. They were out of luck, they ended up in the middle of nowhere, in an unknown system near an unknown planet, mostly covered with water. Caught by the planet's gravity, the ship started to enter the atmosphere.

"PROXY, do something! We are going to crash!" Starkiller shouted as the ship entered the atmosphere.

"I can't, master! The subspace engines went offline and I can't fix them!" the droid replied while continuing his vane attempts to resolve the situation.

Red from entering the atmosphere, the misguided ship was falling down at a frightening speed. More and more systems showed a nasty "Malfunction", the ship's control was lost, and the situation was getting worse by the minute.

"Aaaaaa!!! We're going to fall into the ocean!!! We're done for!" PROXY panicked, but still tried to maneuver with what was left functioning of the ship's controls. His master, however, did exactly the opposite. He resigned from the control board, and closed his eyes, concentrating.

"Master, what are you doing?" the droid inquired.

"Calm yourself…" Starkiller's voice sounded aloof, like he wasn't really here. And that was partially true…

… "Calm yourself… The Force binds all things… Both living, and artificial… Empty your mind, let the Force flow through you without resistance… Size matters not, with the Force everything is possible… Feel the ship around you… You can adjust its falling trajectory, making it land on solid ground, and keep it intact still…" a strange voice was telling Starkiller what to do. And he listened.

The ship suddenly started to change its falling direction, slowly, but it was evading the course that promised only death to the crew. Several systems were fixed by PROXY by that time, and with them the ship didn't land in an ocean, but instead it hit a thin, but long archipelago, which was separated by a sea from the continent…

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First chapter ready. And yes, I realize that Earth is millions of light years away from that galaxy, and that even with hyperdrive it would take many years and blah blah blah… To me it was either that or a giant portal thing. I considered the portal thing repetitive.


	2. MIB

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter two – MIB.

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Chapter two ready. Hope you enjoyed the story so far.

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… Forest. A beautiful landscape, filled with various trees and various indigenous life forms, such as animals. It was warm, the sun smiled upon the forest below, and nothing seemed to break the tranquility of it. It was a place, where one could find peace, to escape from rushes of the big city for a while…

But then, something happened. Hundreds of birds lifted in the air from their nests and flew away in panic. Something seemed to scare them. Several moments after all the animals ran away back into their holes, searching for shelter. It was a sign, the animals knew that something was about to become wrong.

The next moment the air was pierced with a terrible shriek of a falling aircraft, and an unidentified object fell to the ground at great speed, easily smashing through trees and leaving a burned and broken tree-line behind.

Finally, the wild fall has come to an end. The ship that came from the sky looked badly damaged, but it could have been far worse. Any other ship would have been damaged beyond repair in such an uncontrollable fall, but "Rogue shadow" was made tougher than it looks. Plus, its master did his best to minimize the damage the ship received. After all, it was their only ticket out of here.

With a hiss, the emergency hatch opened, and two beings crawled out of there. They were very dizzy from the crash-landing they just had. And quite amazed they had survived.

"C'mon master, let me help you out of here… Easy now." PROXY was trying to help Starkiller get out of the hatch, he had trouble standing on his two feet, being shaken. His head was bleeding, he hit it when the impact with the ground came.

"Ouch my ached head… PROXY, where are we?" Starkiller asked while trying to stop the bleeding with a piece of cloth. He barely kept himself together, his Force powers were exhausted, when he saved the ship.

"I do not know, master. Wherever we are, this system is not in any imperial astronavigation charts. But it is inhabited, however. During our rather rapid descent I noticed some cities. Perhaps there we could find refuge…" the droid replied, and suddenly looked away in another direction.

"What is it, PROXY?" Starkiller asked with suspicion.

"My sensors indicate some unusual readings, master. Intercepting comm chat…" the droid replied, and with a buzz, his vocoder switched to replaying the recorded messages:

"… Chhhh… Troops, spread out … chhhh … surround the area … chhhh … do not let anything escape … chhhh … message ended. Looks like we're in trouble, master." The droid made a conclusion after repeating the message.

"Hold on, maybe they will help or something. We should wait." Starkiller replied. He knew that the percentage of probability that the troops are friendly is low, but he was too weak to attempt to run away on his own right now…

"As you wish, master… This is not going to end well…" the droid replied pessimistically, as they waited…

…In less than 10 minutes they heard some noises in the bushes. It made both Starkiller and PROXY stand up and make a few careful steps in the direction of the noise. Soon, out of the bush, three soldiers appeared. They were wearing camo-suits, Kevlar ballistic jackets and their faces were unseen, covered with some sort of complex targeting systems. Before anyone could have said a thing the leader of the group pointed at the newcomers and shouted:

"Blast them!"

Starkiller activated his lightsaber when he heard that, and the soldiers aimed and fired. Only reflex saved him this time, as he jumped and hid behind a stone, evading the bullets. The droid was not as quick, so he received a handful of hits. Most ricocheted, but several managed to penetrated the plating, doing some minor damage.

"Kinetic bullets! I can't believe anyone still uses that old junk!" he said and switched off his saber. It was useless against that type of ammo.

"Apparently, they still do, and … they are coming this way…" the droid replied.

"Suppressive fire! Don't let those damn aliens escape!" they heard the enemy commander shouting.

"We have to get out of here, now…" Starkiller replied, and fled from cover. The troops fired at him all at once, but stopped, when they saw that the bullets stopped in the air I front of their target.

"What in the name of … TAKE COVER!!!" the enemy commander screamed as he dodged the rain of bullets Starkiller launched back with the Force. The troops, however, managed to take cover, only few of them were hit, and, even so, protected by their ballistic jackets.

"Run for it, PROXY!!!" Starkiller screamed as he turned around, and ran into the woods, followed by his mechanical companion. The troops opened fire, but only managed to hit PROXY a few times before Starkiller raised a cloud of dust, sand and rubble to thwart their aim.

"Damn it, the aliens have escaped." The officer stated.

"Should we go after them, sir?" one of the troops asked.

"No, they're useless to us… But their ship is the real prize around here. Call for reinforcements and helicopters. I smell my big promotion." The officer replied, as one of his troops went manning the radio station to call for heavy transport helicopters and additional reinforcements to secure the area…

… Three days earlier... Tokyo. Shinjuku district. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building …

Heavy steps were echoing in the computer room, where only tapping of the computer keys usually was breaking the silence. Executive officer Yamaki was slowly moving across the main computer room, observing his underlings' work and frequently giving commands.

Mitsuo Yamaki was the leader of a government covert organization known as Hypnos. It was his responsibility to monitor electronic communications of half the Earth for the Japanese government. Because of the legal issues of violating privacy, Hypnos was kept secret from the public. However, due to the appearance of sentient rogue computer programs in the real world, also known as Digimon to the public and as 'wild ones' to the operatives of Hypnos, its primary objective became the extermination of these … programs, the embodiments of chaos and disorder, a danger to humanity, and mere faulty programs.

Suddenly one of the technicians, who were operating the computers, asked:

"Sir, we have an incoming message of highest priority. Should I put it on?"

Yamaki sighed when he heard that. He was waiting this call for several days now, a call from the superiors on the progress with the current situation. And this wasn't going to be an easy talk.

"Yes, go on." He said wearily.

"Patching it through…" the technician replied as he pressed several more buttons, and a semi-holographic screen appeared in the center of the room. Soon an image appeared on the screen - it was his boss, an elderly man with a sharp and strict face, wearing glasses. His glare was piercing.

"Executive Yamaki, pleased to see you. I would like to heat report about the situation in the sector under your control." The chairman went directly to the point.

"The situation is stable, chairman. All digimon trying to appear in our world are being located and destroyed via special programs named Tracer and Yuggoth. Everything is under my personal control." Yamaki replied confidently.

"Yes, I expected as much. But I am more interested on your progress with the wild ones that managed to escape destruction… Were they … been dealt with?" the serious voice inquired. Yamaki swallowed, but answered, after small hesitation:

"We are working on that, sir. Their movements are closely monitored, and we have the situation under control." He said and swallowed again. His boss was clearly displeased.

"We have them monitored… everything is under control… For several months you've been telling me the same old story. To put it plainly, to me it looks like no progress has been made so far to exterminate this thread once and for all. As for your 'under control', what would you say about this?" the chairman inquired and the next moment a piece of an article from a local news paper appeared, with a photo of a red dinosaur-like digimon on its front page. Yamaki had nothing to say.

"Some control you show, executive Yamaki. If the press knows about it, that means everyone knows about it, or will soon enough. Do you know what panic it could create if this knowledge will be poured into public?" the chairman asked again. Yamaki started to flick open and close his Zippo lighter – he was becoming nervous.

"This newspaper has to be silenced…" he said angrily.

"Don't bother, it was already done for you, the paper never reached the printing press, and I am tired of doing YOUR job for you, but we both know that is not the real thread. The three wild ones that still roam out there are the problem. While they exist, such articles will keep appearing, and we can't keep it hidden for long." The chairman said wearily and whipped his forehead with a handkerchief.

"What do you expect me to do? Once they have materialized here there is little we can do, besides monitoring their progress, we do not have any programs capable of deleting them at this stage. And I can't send my own operatives to their death trying to fight them conventionally." Yamaki protested.

"Then invent a program that would be able to vanquish them! That's why you're the head of the computer research and security branch of our organization. However, I noticed a long time ago your lack of resolve to use force when needed. That's why I have made a decision to relieve you of the responsibility for the security of the Tokyo sector, so that you would be able to focus on your research." The chairman replied heavily.

"Who do you entrust with the responsibility then?" Yamaki inquired sourly.

"The responsibility would be given to our military branch known as the "Black watch" and its executive officer. Am I right, Mr. Smith?" the chairman asked and in a few seconds another screen appeared before Yamaki. Unlike the chairman, executive Smith had a habit of hiding his face in the shadows, with only his glasses gleaming in the light of a monitor.

"Quite correct. I assure you that we will succeed where executive Yamaki, unfortunately, failed so miserably." This was a stab towards Yamaki. They were not on good terms with each other.

"Yes, I am pleased to see you too, executive Smith. Though, chairman, I must ask, why have you entrusted them for the task of keeping everything under control? You might as well roll the tanks onto the streets.

"That is unlikely. While any movements of the armed forces are monitored by our worthless press, none of them even knows of the existence of the "Black watch". And few who tried to discover the truth died of natural causes. We operate much more subtly." Smith replied with a sly intonation. Yamaki shivered a bit. The "Black watch" was famous for getting rid of any witnesses of their activities.

"Yes. You see, executive Yamaki, that is why I tasked them. They know how to get results, a trait that, I hope, you will also gain in the future. I give you one month to come up with a program capable of deleting ANY bio-emerged wild ones, and in large scales too. When the D-project will be complete, I believe there would be quite a few of them trying to break in here. You are to provide executive Smith with all the data you have on the current targets. Signing off…" the chairman said and his screen turned off.

"Send all available data through a secured link…" Yamaki ordered and in a few seconds executive Smith was already looking through it.

"Hmm, three digimon … accompanied by three children… Interesting. Battle parameters and recordings… Hmm… This might be a problem…" he nodded while looking through the data.

"What are you planning to do?" Yamaki asked with a bit of irony.

"I would require some time to devise a strategy. Eventually, I will succeed. They will be eliminated." Smith replied confidently.

"And what about the children?" Yamaki suddenly asked.

"What about them?" Smith inquired with a bit of amazement.

"What are you going to do with them?" Yamaki insisted. A pause was held for several seconds.

"They are to be captured, if at all possible. I'd rather think about that after I find a solution to our run-away program vermin." The answer came and the next second the second screen was shut down. Yamaki closed his lighter and almost squished it in his hand. He was angry, angry and embarrassed. He was made looking ineffective and incompetent before his subordinates.

"Mr. Yamaki, sir, are you alright?" Reika Ootori, his trusted chief system operator, asked with a concerned voice.

"Keep working, Mrs. Ootori. I have some urgent matters to attend to…" Yamaki grumped, and left the room.

"Wow, our chief was just demoted, can you believe that?"

"Hardly, I wonder how anyone could expect us to be pushing harder than he does…"

"Stop this chatter. What we heard was said not only to the chief, but to all of us. We are not working hard enough, and this was the failure not of one man, but of all of us. Keep working!" Reika's strict voice made everyone shut up and get back to work…

…After managing to escape pursuit, Starkiller and PROXY decided to go back to their ship, to see what was going on over there. It was to their amazement that the place was already secured by a couple of hundred of troops. They all wore camouflage and bore strange badges. White eye on the black background – Starkiller immediately made a conclusion that these were no rank and file troops, neither were those who tried to kill him earlier.

"Master, we cannot fight all of them at once, there are too many, and you're still too weak from the crash." The droid said with worry.

"I know, let's see what they are doing…" Starkiller replied as they started to watch from a hidden spot.

The ship appeared to be covered by a large camo-net. The troops were preparing some sort of magnetic grapplers, it took them about an hour to prepare all of them. Then, with a recognizable sound, around 8 helicopters appeared from the sky. They were no ordinary helicopters, but those designed to lift very heavy objects. In less than ten minutes the soldiers below attached the grapplers to the metallic cables hanging from the helicopters.

"There's no way such primitive aircraft could lift my ship off the ground…" Starkiller thought confidently. It was to his amazement when his ship started to levitate from the air. A few moments later the ship was taken away, and the troops were getting back into their vehicles – the black vans, to return to base.

"PROXY, can you place a tracking beacon on one of the trucks?" Starkiller asked.

"One moment…" the droid replied and aimed at one of the trucks with his forearm. It shot a small bug-like beacon, which crawled and hid itself inside…

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Another chapter done. The next one will be ready soon.


	3. Diversion

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 3 – Diversion.

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Hopefully you're still enjoying this, otherwise I just waste time =)

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… For many hours Starkiller and his trusted droid companion followed the beacon that was attached to one of the vans. It's not like hiding would do them any good right now, since their ship was taken away somewhere. If they are to have any hope of escaping the planet, which met them with so much hostility, they have to find their ship and hope it is still possible to repair it.

The signals of a miniature spying devise lead them further and further, following a small road into the forest. Finally, the road lead them to a clearing. It looked like a landing pad of some sort, it was obviously used by small helicopters to land on. Also nearby there was something that looked like an underground garage.

There were no people around. No armed patrols, no barbwire, no towers with machineguns, no nothing. This was odd, something was definitely wrong here, and both Starkiller and PROXY knew it.

"PROXY, are you sure we are going in the right direction?" Starkiller asked doubtingly.

"Why yes, master. The beacon says their base should be right here … yet I do not see anything that could even give a hint of a military presence…" the droid replied, and checked the radar again. Yes, everything was adding up, there couldn't be any mistake.

"Maybe their base is somewhere underground, and that metal door is the entrance." Droid proposed.

"That might be our best shot… C'mon." Starkiller replied as he moved towards it.

The doors were made of reinforced metallic alloy, and were thick enough to withstand a very powerful explosion. They were not designed to withstand beams of highly concentrated energy, however. Of course, even back in the Empire there were few things that could hold a beam of the lightsaber.

"Figures, it's locked. Very well, I guess we will have to make our own entrance…" Starkiller said and activated his lightsaber.

"Is that wise, master? If there are any soldiers outside the door, they'll be alerted to your presence, and we will be in for one nasty firefight. Maybe we should wait for a truck to come in and sneak our way inside?" the droid proposed.

"That will be taking forever, PROXY. And we need to get inside now. They might have info as to where they are taking our ship." Starkiller replied and jabbed the door with his lightsaber, slowly carving out a hole for them to come in through…

… If you see no guard, that doesn't always mean that there aren't any guards around, sometimes it only means that you just don't see any guards. And that was exactly the case. The art of keeping things secret is not in keeping out the curios, it's also in not attracting any attention at all. Walls, barbwires and guards are like flashing signs for every last "sensation! – hunter", who seeks to unravel another government secret and type about it in his cheap newspaper.

If you let those guys poking around, eventually they'll find out something, and then you'll have to dispose of them to ensure their silence. It is so much easier not to attract their attention now than to kill them later.

But that wasn't all. The whole territory around the entrance was filled with security cameras, skillfully hidden in the bushes, trees, and places where no one would be looking for them. They were put there to spot any serious snoopers that might come across. And of course, the approach of our two heroes was not unseen…

In the center of the underground facility - in the command center, the commandant of the base was in the middle of the report about the capture of the "alien spacecraft", also known as "Rogue shadow". And, of course, he was reporting, via a video transmission, to no one other than executive Smith, who was in charge of the sector and wanted to know all the details.

"… we salvaged the ship and it was sent towards the research facilities, as you instructed. The aliens, however, managed to escape, after encountering our troops, and it was impossible for us to capture them, that is, according to the report of the officer that performed the task…" the commandant was reading the report in a monotonously-boring manner.

"Impossible? Why? Did the use some kind of alien weaponry?" Smith inquired. His manner of speech was rather slow, and intonation was making people he talked with uneasy, it was creeping them out.

"You see, sir… they used some sort of a field that absorbed the bullets and launched them back at the shooters. The alien used it only once. We have three soldiers in the infirmary. Also, one of the aliens looks like a human, while the other appears to be some sort of a robot." The commandant replied.

"Hmm… I see… Well, with this information we now can… What is that sound? What is going on?" Smith asked, when suddenly the alarm went off.

"I don't know sir, let me take a look…" the commandant replied and requested a report about the current situation. Soon on the screen appeared the image of Starkiller who almost burned through the door.

"I can't believe it! Those aliens attempt to break through our doors! Send a company to meet them when they're through and destroy them." The commandant ordered through the commlink, and after that sent the video file to the executive.

"Good, very good… Yet I didn't anticipate this… Commandant, set all security cameras in the building to record everything the intruders do. Also, reroute the input so that it goes directly to me. I want to see everything." Executive ordered. "That way I will be able to see what that alien is capable of." He thought in a moment.

"Um… of course, sir." The commandant, who thought that this was a rather strange order, complied…

… Meanwhile, outside the door, the "entrance" was almost complete. Starkiller has almost finished carving through the metal. Even though it was not made to hold against such weapons, it still offered quite a resistance. Or at least it made Starkiller sweat a bit.

"I can feel that there are a lot of people on the other side of the door… They know we're coming. Prepare yourself, PROXY." He said dimly.

"Master, are you sure we can take down a garrison of an entire base on our own? You're still tired from the crash…" the droid replied with too much concern over his master's safety. That pissed Starkiller off a bit.

"I don't need a babysitter droid, I'm fine enough. We can do this…" he replied angrily. The door was almost breached…

… On the other side there were heavy defense preparations. In charge of the "welcoming committee" was the same lieutenant that was in charge of the ship retrieval operation. He was quite happy when his company was given the privilege to dispatch the alien foe. "This day just gets better and better!!! If this keeps up, I might be promoted to a captain! Or maybe even a major!" he thought happily, but even so, was aware of the dangers the enemy poses. That's why he ordered three machine guns placed to aim at the entrance, several rocket launchers armed with anti-infantry missiles, and a the place was cramped with troops. "There's no way that alien scum is going to survive this…"

But the foolish lieutenant didn't know the full extent of a Force adept's capabilities, and his confidence was born out of ignorance, and common sense, which does not always work, and not out of knowledge about the enemy.

Finally, the carving through the door has stopped. Every soldier aimed and prepared to fire. Every second suddenly went incredibly slowly. "C'mon, c'mon, what's taking you?" the lieutenant was getting nervous.

Suddenly, the entire piece of the door was kicked out with Force. This managed to surprise the troops a bit, though they were told to be ready for anything, and they retaliated with one hell of a fire. All that was in vane, however, because all bullets just went through the hole, not meeting with their target.

"Hold your fire!" the officer ordered. Suddenly, their target reappeared and, before anyone could shoot, threw at them something that looked like a small ball, or…

"Grenade! Take cover!!!" the soldiers ran away, tripping over each other, but there was so little room for cover, and there were so many soldiers. The grenade exploded, dealing a great deal of casualties to the soldiers and sewing chaos and disorder in their ranks.

"Chumps didn't expect us to have thermal detonators. Alright, PROXY, go go go!!!" Starkiller shouted and went into the breach.

"I'm right behind you, master!" the droid replied and activated a lightsaber of his own, and went inside as well.

The soldiers who survived the explosion, including the lieutenant, tried to put up a resistance, but it was in vain. Their best chance was to hit their targets when they we entering the structure, and they blew it. Inside the garage there were a lot of objects one could use for cover, to get closer, and it was literally impossible to stop the lightsaber-blazing duo in close quarter.

Jumping at the enemy defense line, Starkiller unleashed a devastating Force lightning storm from his both hands, effectively frying any enemies within reach. The remaining troops, despite being elite, were too scared to run away, and were mowed down by the droid, who was practically untouchable because of his durasteel plating. In his slaughter PROXY didn't notice the final words that came from the lips of an enemy just before he was cut in two by the lightsaber: "So much for my … promotion…"

They didn't know that their most murderous "performance" was monitored by cameras. The commandant's face turned white when he saw that a whole company of his elite troops was turned to shish kebab in a matter of seconds. He wanted to send more troops to stop the menacing thread, but was stopped by the voice from the monitor:

"No, they seek the command center. Get all of your troops out of their way, they will only wind up dead if they cross them."

"Then I must evacuate as well…" the commandant said, turned around and wanted to flee, but was stopped yet again:

"No, YOU will stay here." The voice said grimly. It made the commandant stop in his tracks and shake in fear for his life.

"B… but sir… I would be killed … please … have mercy… I have a family…" he almost begged.

"Nothing will happen to you. Stay here." Smith ordered with a tone that didn't accept interjections. The commandant swallowed, and replied:

"Y… yesss… sir." …

Smith despised cowardice, though he knew what it was like, he had to understand it in order to know how to use and instill fear. "These aliens are powerful… Very powerful. But not invincible… They may prove to be a solution to another of my persistent problems…

… The duo was blazing through one of the corridors that lead to the command center. It was odd that they met no resistance ever since the encounter in the garage, and the whole place looked like it has been deserted recently.

"Maybe they decided to evacuate the entire building… Then our stay here is pointless…" Starkiller muttered as they ran through another corridor.

"Or maybe we are walking into another trap…" the droid replied without much enthusiasm.

"Whatever. Either way, we must find someone here, someone with rank, maybe he'll know where our ship has been taken…" Starkiller replied and stopped, as another door appeared before him. Not nearly as solid as the main entrance door, but still quite formidable. He spent about a minute carving through it.

"Do you sense any organics beyond that door, master?" the droid inquired.

"Yes, just one. I can sense his fear, he is frightened…" Starkiller replied, as he finished carving through, and busted out the section of the door. Inside he saw something that looked like a computer room. There were many monitors, screens, and all were turned off. Near one of them he saw a man, the one he has sensed through the door. He had officer markings, which Starkiller spotted almost immediately after he came in, and darted at him like an animal. The next moment a red blade was already at the commandant's throat.

"You tell me what I want to know, and I won't hurt you. Are you the one running this place?" Starkiller asked and drew his burning blade a bit closer. But before the commandant managed to reply anything, a menacing droid-like voice was heard:

"Yes, he is the one. But it is not him you will have to deal with. You will deal with me. Release him." The voice demanded. The voice had enough authority to make the assassin release his victim rather than kill it because of its uselessness. After that, the big wall screen was activated, and a familiar image appeared on it. The face and upper part of the chest was covered with a shadow, only his hands lying on the table were seen. They were in black gloves. "Hnh, coward. Afraid to show his face."

"Who the heck are you?" Starkiller asked with insolence.

"Who am I is not important. All you need to know is that I am an officer within the organization whose outpost you just ransacked. And I am curious as to what you tried to achieve with such an act." The voice replied. It was obviously a question.

"Your goons have my ship. I want it back." Starkiller replied astutely.

"Ah yes, your ship, "the unidentified aircraft" that crash-landed several kilometers away from your current position. Yes, we have it, but you will never find it." The voice replied confidently.

"PROXY, have you managed to track the video transmission signal?" Starkiller whispered to his droid.

"I'm afraid it is impossible, master. The signal is too well coded to track it to its source." The droid replied. "Flaming coward." Starkiller thought again.

"Then I'll just have to keep pillaging your bases until you're convinced that it is not worth the trouble to fight me…" the assassin tried to threaten, but was stopped by laughter coming from the screen.

"You think too much of yourself. Even though very powerful, you're just a man. While on the other hand we – are an entire organization. Without resources and powerful allies you won't be able to fight us all. Furthermore, you can't attack another base if you don't know where it is hidden. All bases of minor importance, like this one, operate remotely, unaware of the location of the others." The voice replied ironically. Starkiller had little to say against that, other then:

"Sh*t."

"Precisely. However, your abilities might still prove useful to me. You will get your ship back, and we even will assist in fixing it, but first, you will have to do something for me." The voice offered. And the offer was tempting enough.

"Hmm, what do you have in mind?" Starkiller asked a bit slyly…

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Done, next chapter will be ready soon.


	4. Hitman

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 4 – Hitman.

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… "What do you have in mind?" Starkiller inquired.

"There are several … beings, which I need eliminated. They have avoided destruction for too long, and it will be your job to destroy them." The voice replied slowly and grimly.

"Can you believe this planet, PROXY? We're here less than a day and already someone's trying to use us to dispatch some foes…" Starkiller asked his droid jokingly.

"Human's nature doesn't change, no matter on what level of technological advancement they are." The droid replied in a philosophical manner.

"Yeah, right. How do you know I will not betray you?" Starkiller inquired his faceless conversationalist.

"You won't. If you do, your ship will remain to me, and you won't leave this planet." the voice replied threateningly. Starkiller swallowed. If the ship is destroyed, that means the end.

"Ugh, fine, I'll do it." He said.

"I knew you would see it my way. Here is how your targets look like." Smith said and the second screen lighted up, showing three different "people". Creatures, never seen before by Starkiller or PROXY. Three digimon. Although Starkiller saw such creatures for the first time, they didn't look too dangerous to him.

"That's it? What, couldn't your people take care of these by themselves? Pretty pathetic for a big covert organization." Starkiller replied a bit ironically. His mockery was left unnoticed.

"Appearances could be deceiving. Each of these creatures is far more powerful than any of my soldiers, and besides … why should I be putting my soldiers at risk, when I have you? With our skills it would be easy for you to dispatch them. See, we all will remain in profit." The voice replied reasonably. Starkiller understood that their opponent knew about the situation they were in, and had the advantage. There was no choice, really.

"Where can I find them?" he asked dimly.

"There is a city not far away from here, it is named Tokyo. You will be taken to our outpost there. Another executive officer would explain the task in greater detail. I have spent too much of my precious time already granting you this audience and there are other things that need my attention. Commandant, make sure our "ally" will make it to the place of destination. This discussion is over." Executive Smith said and both screens shut down. The commandant, who was right behind Starkiller all this time, and already managed to shake down his fear, said:

"I will order to prepare a transport for you immediately, sir. Executive Smith doesn't like to wait. Follow me."

"Whatever. How are you going to arrange a transport though? All vehicles in the garage were either destroyed or badly damaged by us." Starkiller grumped as he followed the officer.

"The base has more than one garage…" the commandant replied aloofly, opening a coded lock on the door, which lead to the garage.

"Master, I still have my doubts about allying ourselves with that shady type of human." PROXY said sourly, as it could be said by a droid.

"It's not an alliance. Like it or not, we're the pawns. And our "employer" holds all the cards. Very well, we will be pawns … for now." Starkiller replied, and a nasty fire was burning in his eyes. They both followed to a trademark black van.

"Tokyo. Shinjuku. Outpost Z-7."the commandant said to the driver.

"Will do. Hop on board." The driver replied, and in a few minutes they were away from the half-destroyed outpost…

… Smith closed his eyes and let them rest for a few seconds. Constant staring in all those monitors in front of him rendered him almost blind, and years of hard work added and passed him by. He didn't trust his subordinates, and tended to give all orders by himself.

"Alright, back to work." He said to himself and pushed a button on his desk. Another monitor lighted up, and a very familiar face appeared on it. A relatively young man, who hid his eyes behind sinister-looking shades.

"Executive Yamaki." Smith said slowly.

"Executive Smith, it is a … pleasure." Yamaki replied after small hesitation. He was not happy to see Smith.

"I believe II have found someone who would deal with our wild one problem once and for all." Smith didn't change the tone, keeping it monotonous. Yamaki raised his eyebrow in a sign of slight amazement.

"Indeed? Congratulations then. But why are you telling me this? The operation is under your total control, not mine." Yamaki replied with a bit of amazement.

"It is because I want you to properly instruct our "recruit", before the beginning of the mission. You will be waiting for his arrival in the outpost Z-7." Smith replied monotonously.

"Outpost Z-7? Why not Hypnos?" Yamaki asked in amazement.

"Because I do not want him to know where it is." Smith replied. Yamaki's amazement grew.

"Is he dangerous?" he asked.

"Very dangerous. Do what you have been told. Dismissed." These were the last words and the screen was turned off. "How I hate when he gives me orders. Oh well, I will comply." Yamaki thought as he left the main control room…

… Smith turned out that monitor too and turned on another one. That's how he worked, moving people in his scheme, to achieve ends favorable to his country, or himself.

"Head science and weapons research overseer Richard Lusoff speaking. What can we do for you today, sir?" the scientist asked.

"Report on the progress on analyzing the wreckage of the alien spacecraft that was brought to you." Smith demanded.

"That ship you brought us is simply fascinating! Many of systems are still functional, and we are even able to rebuild some details, such as weaponry, with our own technology. With adequate time and funding that could give humanity a leap in technology we wouldn't have done ourselves in a hundred years!" the scientist exclaimed with passion of a man whose job was to move progress. A smirk appeared on Smith's face for a second, though there wasn't anyone who would have noticed it.

"I want you to take the ship apart and send different parts to different laboratories." He said, and enjoyed the expression on the scientist's face, he looked like he saw an alien ghost.

"T … take apart?" he asked one more time.

"Yes, take apart." Smith said again.

"But… taking the ship apart might damage some of the…" the scientist tried to object but was rudely interrupted.

"Then do it carefully. See to it." Smith ordered and ended the transmission. "Now, let's hope everything will work out as I have planned…" he thought and closed his eyes for a brief rest again…

… Yamaki was waiting for the mysterious "henchmen" Smith managed to "hire" at the Z-7 outpost. He was slightly nervous about it, yet it was never shown – Yamaki knew how not to show emotions. Finally, the door opened, and, accompanied by a platoon of troops, who surrounded them in a semi-circle, PROXY and Starkiller entered the command room.

"So you're the killers…" he said.

"Right. You're the one who must instruct us, I take it?" Starkiller replied without much sympathy.

"Correct. Your targets are three digimon, each one possesses certain skills and abilities…" Yamaki said and pressed several buttons. On the big view screen appeared a tall yellow fox-like digimon. Starkiller raised his eyebrow.

"First one, and by our accounts, the most dangerous of all three. Possesses superior strength, speed, and agility. Proves to be a powerful opponent in close-quarter combat, yet has the ability to attack from afar. Downloading video file…" Yamaki said, and on a second view screen several videos of that certain digimon in action were played. Starkiller observed them carefully.

The picture on the first screen changed to a red dinosaur-like creature.

"This one also is very dangerous, though less so when compared to the first one. Superior strength and a frightening ability to throw fireballs. Moves in close combat are a bit sluggish, but still powerful." Yamaki explained and a video footage came next.

"We do not have sufficient info about the third one, only a photo, but I doubt he would prove an obstacle." Yamaki said and a picture of a small creature resembling a rabbit appeared. When Starkiller saw it he barely held laughter.

"Since when rodents become threads?" he asked.

"My point exactly." Yamaki replied unwaveringly.

"Alright, where can we find them?" Starkiller asked.

"There is no "we" here. Your robot will stay, he would attract unwanted attention. Also, you would be given a more … civil garment, so you could blend with the crowd and a navigation system to find your way through the city…" Yamaki replied, referring that Starkiller's clothes were a bit … inappropriate.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I am equipped with a state of the art holographic camouflage unit, it allows me to take form of any humanoid-like creature. Observe." The droid interrupted, and then changed his for to look exactly as Yamaki. Yamaki barely held himself not to say something in amazement.

"Most … impressive. Very well, you can accompany your master to help him execute the task." He said, still a bit shaken.

"So I repeat, where can we find them?" Starkiller asked again.

"We have a tracer on one of them, the dinosaur, but the location of others is a more difficult task. If we take down one the others might go in hiding, and that would make the job difficult. You will have to take down all of them at once." Yamaki replied.

"How am I going to do that?" Starkiller asked.

"During our observation I have noticed that the trio gathers together to bring down another digimon which manages to come through without being deleted by us. We would simply let one slip in, and you will wait for your targets to arrive. Then, you will strike." Yamaki explained the idea, yet some things we still very unclear.

"So let me get this straight, they're … frankly, doing your job for you, and you want to destroy them?" Starkiller asked sarcastically. His sarcasm was ignored, however.

"You're being too curios for your own good." Yamaki replied dryly.

"I find it a bit irrational. If they are gone, who will take care of the digimon that will appear later?" PROXY inquired, supporting its master's thought.

"We will, of course. We do not bargain with the enemy. They all must be eliminated. They are nothing but vermin, faulty programs gone loose." Yamaki replied, and he sounded confidently. But behind his seemingly confident voice his doubt was hiding. "Indeed, if those three are gone, who will take down the appearing wild ones? Our men? Or maybe those two? But … if Smith says they are dangerous, if using their services worth the risk?" he thought and looked at his two "employees" again. A bit friendlier version of a terminator and a guy who, according to reports, slaughtered an entire company of highly trained troops. And wondered what would actually be the lesser evil…

… In the briefing room of one of the outposts there were four soldiers. Their faces were covered with their masks, and they wore armor that looked more like exoskeleton suits. They all had badges with white eye on their shoulders, and were caring weaponry and munitions of strange configurations. The eye on black background was the insignia of the Black watch. Suddenly, the screen before them lighted up and a familiar faceless figure appeared on it.

"You were chosen for this task because you are the best. The elite. This mission might be the most important one in your life. Failure would not be tolerated." The voice said strictly.

"What do you want us to do, sir?" one of the faceless soldiers inquired.

"You must eliminate two targets…"

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Sorry it took me so long. The next chapter will come more sooner.


	5. Strike

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 5 – Strike.

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Another chapter ready, hope you would like it. Also I have to thank everyone who followed the story so far.

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… Shinjuku was filled with strange talks. They were spreading among the people at such a rate that even Black watch was not able to keep track and control of them. Information was slowly, drop by drop, leaking into society. They were able to silence all of the news companies who were just too curious for their own good, but how can you stop talks among common people?

And there were reasons for such crazy stories to appear. Increased activity of the Black watch and Hypnos, blue rays of energy piercing the skies, strange fogs that appeared out of nowhere in several areas, and signs of fighting and destruction that was left after them. A sight of a black van heading somewhere or a black helicopter in the air became most common sights.

But people didn't know what caused such events to take place, not yet. The most popular "theory" was that terrorists are planning an attack, and that one was much supported and spread by the Black watch, because it helped cover what was really going on…

… Starkiller, now dressed more appropriately to blend with the crowd, was leaning to the wall, hiding in one of empty side-alleys. His droid companion, PROXY, was standing next to him. Their portable navigation system, which was linked to a transmitter that was connected to the digimon tracking computer back at Hypnos, lead them to that place.

"A rogue digimon should appear soon, and become a decoy for our target." Starkiller said and put his black shades on – a souvenir from Yamaki. The strange fog started to appear in the area, being a sign of a nearly complete digimon apparition.

"I most certainly hope this plan will succeed, master, otherwise the whole inconvenience would be pointless..." the droid replied. He had an appearance of an office worker and such, thanks to his advanced hologram camouflage technology, which granted him the ability to easily blend in with hundreds of hundreds of office workers which were rushing to work early in the day. He was not wearing glasses, his photo-receptors were immune to the fog.

Suddenly, something emerged out of the black void, which came out of nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly. Neither Starkiller nor PROXY has ever seen such a creature. It looked like a very big, white gorilla with a sort of a gun instead of its right arm. It was extremely savage and angry, and looked more than a formidable foe for anyone who would dare to challenge it.

"Now I see why our "employers" are so concerned with wiping these things out. I mean, look at the size of that thing!" Starkiller said in amazement, while watching from his hideout.

"I could say with a high degree of precision that it would have taken more than a couple of squads of stormtroopers with heavy ammunitions to bring down this animal, master." The droid replied.

"And our targets are supposed to bring that thing down, at least according to the patterns we have received. It would be an amusing sight to watch…" Starkiller said as he suddenly felt someone else approaching. "They're coming, I can feel them through the Force. Amazing they managed to react so promptly though…" he though back then…

… Four more beings entered the fog. Two of them – the red dinosaur and the green rabbit-like creature, were quickly recognized by Starkiller, but the second two … let's just say their appearance was not quite expected.

"What the …?! No briefing ever mentioned kids… What are they doing here?" Starkiller muttered in confusion. He saw two boys running beside the digimon, his targets he was pledged to kill. This didn't add up.

"Let us observe what they will be doing, master. Perhaps things would come clearer." The droid sounded reasonable. So they stayed to watch, not revealing their hiding place just yet. They had to wait for the third digimon to show up…

… But the assassin duo never expected themselves to be observed. And they, of course, never noticed several bullet-sized cameras which were attached the nearby surroundings via a special sniper rifle, and thanks to the skill of the sharpshooter wielding it. Everything was observed and recorded. Whoever gave the order wanted not only to record more data about digimon fighting techniques, but also find out more info about the powers the strange human-like alien and his robot from another galaxy possessed…

… The red dinosaur attacked the gorilla monster with several fireball shots, but his attack appeared to be pointless, because the gorilla simply blocked them with its paws, and strangely enough, those blasts left no burns at all. The gorilla retaliated with a volley of devastating blaster shots from his gun, forcing both the children and their digimon to take cover.

"Damn, how are we supposed to take this guy down, if even Guilmon's attacks can't get through?!" Takato, the boy with strange glasses on his head, asked with a bated breath.

"Maybe Guilmon can distract the Gorillamon's attention so that Terriermon can sneak behind him and attack…" Henry, the second boy, proposed.

"Sounds like a plan, let's do it!" The voice of Terriermon, the small green rabbit-like digimon, was heard.

The red dinosaur, Guilmon, fled from cover and ran at the Gorillamon, barely evading the shots it was launching from its gun. Apparently, Guilmon tried to engage in melee combat, even though his giant counterpart had the clear advantage.

"Graaagh!!!" Guilmon growled as he slammed his nemesis with full mass of his body, making Gorillamon take a few steps back. That blow was not enough to make him fall though, and with a growl of his own, Gorillamon clubbed Guilmon with his gun-armed right hand, sending the dinosaur flying against the wall.

It was at that moment, when a powerful green tornado appeared behind Gorillamon, and sent him flying into a car, slamming it hard. It was powerful enough to make such a big creature lose balance, that is.

"Did we do it?" Takato asked as he was watching the fight from behind a corner.

"I'LL SMASH YOU TO LITTLE DATA SHARDS!!!" the Gorillamon growled as he stood up and started firing at the little pest that sneaked behind him, but missed all of his shots.

Gorillamon was about to advance forward and smash the pathetic opposition that dared to challenge him, but suddenly, he felt someone's presence behind him. A very powerful presence. He turned around, and, to his amazement, saw … a girl.

She moved towards the monster slowly, and she didn't fear. On her face was written only determination, and confidence in victory. Her arrival amazed the "audience" quite a bit.

"Rika!" both Takato and Henry shouted cheerfully. They knew that if she is here, someone else is around here too. And that someone was capable to turn the tide of battle they were in.

"Renamon." Rika called calmly, not paying any attention to her wannabe allies' shouts. After her call a shadowy figure materialized behind her. Her digimon. Tall, elegant, and extremely deadly.

"Yes?" a soft voice was heard.

"Let's show these amateurs how battles should be fought." Rika said with mockery towards Takato's and Henry's attempts, and with confidence in her own and her digimon's abilities.

"He will never know what killed him." Her digimon replied calmly. To Renamon this was just one battle of many…

"Looks like the cavalry has arrived. Now we'll see what they are really capable of…" Starkiller commented the appearance of new faces on the "stage".

"All three targets are in our vicinity, master. Should we attack?" the droid inquired eagerly, he wanted to fight.

"Not now, PROXY. Let them wear themselves out against the monster. If we are lucky, it may actually do our job for us. We should wait." Starkiller replied calmly. To him it was just another assassination of many…

…"You talk too much too soon! YOU are just a pathetic rookie, just like the other whelps around here. By destroying you and consuming your data, I shall become more powerful! WAAAGH!!!" Gorillamon growled and shot his blast right at Rika. In a second Renamon appeared in front of her to protect her tamer from the blast and Rika slashed a card that granted Renamon the ability to deflect the powerful attack.

"What?! My attack didn't go through?" Gorillamon looked very confused. A mocking smile appeared on Rika's face.

"Renamon, you know what to do." She ordered.

"I will enjoy this." Renamon replied as she charged at her target with such speed that human eyes were barely able to see her.

"Die you!!!" Gorillamon shot one blast after another in a vain attempt to stop Renamon's advance, but she teleported from one spot to another, easily evading his clumsy shots. In several seconds she appeared right under the nose of her opponent, confusing him even more. It took Gorillamon several seconds to realize his enemy was right in front of him.

"When I'll hit you you're DEAD!!!" he growled in rage as he swung his gun-arm madly in an attempt to pulverize Renamon, but she teleported away just before the attack could have actually harmed her.

"Huh? Where did she go? Show yourself you coward!" Gorillamon mumbled in amazement and looked around. Renamon was nowhere in sight. But in reality, she was standing right on his shoulders, without him noticing.

Without any emotion shown on her face, but with small amount of satisfaction, Rika slashed another card through her D-power. With a flash, Renamon's arm transformed into a gun of her own, and she pointed it right in the head of Gorillamon.

"Die." She said coldly, and shot a blast right through the cranium of the monster, and gracefully jumping off him. With a moan of pain, Gorillamon fell lifelessly on the ground, with a smoking hole in his skull, and slowly disappeared into shards of data, which were consumed by Renamon…

"That was quick. Alright, get into position. I will take down the fox-like digimon, she seems to be the strongest around here indeed, and you will handle the rest of them." Starkiller said coldly.

"As you command, master, but … are you sure you will be able to take her down without any help?" the droid asked reluctantly.

"The dark side of the Force is strong within me…" Starkiller replied and turned his head to the droid. His eyes were glowing with a malicious poison-yellow light. That glare killed off all the doubts…

… "Thank God you showed up, Rika. I thought we were goners…" Takato said rather happily, yet his happiness was not shared by the one he was talking to.

"Next time I go to take down a digimon I better not find you and your pathetic excuses for digimon around. Go play with your critters in the park or whatever, but leave fighting digimon to someone who can actually fight." Rika's grouchy and cynical response wiped the smile off Takato's face in a second.

"Look, ease off with the insults, okay? We're not pushovers." Terriermon replied from below.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, you weenie little green rabbit. Renamon, we're done here." Rika replied, and was about to leave, but stopped, because her digimon didn't move, and was looking in one direction.

"Someone is coming this way…" she muttered dimly.

Out of the fog, two figures appeared. They came from opposite directions. Neither children, nor digimon have ever seen those people before. They moved slowly towards them, and there was something evil about them, nothing that could be described with words, like an aura.

"Um… Takato? Friends of yours?" Henry asked his friend.

"I don't remember having those creepy people in my list of acquaintances…" Takato replied. Rika was not up for chit-chat, and shouted as soon as both strangers came in reach of her voice:

"Who are you and what do you want?"

Both figures didn't reply with words. The burning red blades of their lightsabers showed their intentions well enough. The strange weapons forced children into stupor for a brief moment.

"Err… Definitely not friendly." Terriermon commented.

"Look, we don't know who you are or what is your business with us, but can't we talk it over?" Henry hoped that he would be able to resolve the situation peacefully. Takato was pretty confused, and Rika was just about as hostile as the strangers.

"That does it! Blast them Renamon!" she screamed and her digimon raised her arm and shot a powerful energy bolt without hesitation.

Renamon was very amazed that her target actually managed to react at her shot. But her amazement grew even more when her bolt was deflected by a lightsaber and was launched right back at her. The bolt was flying direct into her chest, it was too late to evade it, but she managed to put her arm-gun in the bolt's way just in time to save herself. The gun was shattered into pieces.

"Incredible…" she muttered as she charged to attack her target, who just happened to be Starkiller, by teleporting from one spot to another, just as he did with Gorillamon. "The enemy must be very dangerous in close combat if he managed to deflect a shot just like that… I better try attacking him from afar again…" she thought as she got closer and closer to Starkiller. She didn't know that her nemesis studied the recordings of her past battles and knew exactly what she was going to do.

Renamon teleported back and forth and watched her opponent's reaction. Starkiller pretended he cannot follow her movements, and faked confusion, but in reality he was able to feel her movements through the Force. "Good, he cannot see where I am going to attack from, my movements are too fast for him. Hnh, he is only a human after all…" she thought, obviously falling to Starkiller's deceit.

She jumped in the air above her target and summoned a volley of crystal shards to launch against her foe, and already considered the battle won. "This will be the end of you…" she thought as she launched her Diamond storm attack at Starkiller. This attack was foreseen.

The diamonds stopped in the air after barely been launched. Yellow kitsune was not ready for such a turn of events. "What the…?" she thought as the crystals suddenly flew right back at her. "The Force is a powerful weapon, more powerful than mere physical strength and agility." Starkiller noted in his mind, as he used the Force to launch the diamond attack back at the attacker. Renamon didn't manage to evade the cutting volley of the shards, and blocked few crystals with her hands, while the rest delivered her dozens of small, but painful cuts…

… At the same time both Terriermon and Guilmon were trying to fight the strange human, which was actually PROXY in disguise. He showed unnatural speed and agility for a human, evading their attacks, even though he didn't possess Force powers.

"Dammit hold still why don't cha!" Guilmon growled as he tried to hit the agile droid with his fireballs, but his efforts were pretty much in vain. The droid jumped and rolled from cover to cover, evading the blasts, and was getting closer. "Memory data recordings entered… Replaying… We do not have sufficient info about the third one, only a photo, but I doubt he would prove an obstacle… Resetting target priority… Primary target – Guilmon… Initiating assassination protocols…" such a chain of commands went through PROXY's central processor as he jumped from cover and ran at the red dinosaur directly.

"Take that!" Guilmon growled and launched a fireball directly at the enemy, but to his surprise, the droid didn't evade it, and received a full hit. The fire didn't damage his metallic alloy body, only took down his disguise, revealing his true nature.

"Holy crap a killer robot…" Takato mumbled.

"We're doomed…" Henry added, as they watched PROXY attack…

… Renamon forced herself to stand up again. She received quite a hit, and though Rika slashed a card to bolster her strength, she was still weakened. She stood up and stalked her nemesis with a glare full of hatred. "I cannot lose this fight. I have to win, I have to…" she thought, and her opponent suddenly raised his hand in front of him. "What is he going to do now? … Agh!!!" she nearly screamed from numb pain. Her arms and legs … she was no longer able to feel them…

"Renamon what are you doing?! Attack him!" Rika screamed in rage. Her digimon didn't move, as Starkiller was slowly approaching her.

"Can't move… Body … paralyzed. You must … flee…" Renamon managed to reply, even though she was almost completely under Force stasis.

"FLEE?! What are you talking about?! I flee from no one." Rika exclaimed in both anger and amazement.

"You must… Too strong for me… Run!" those were Renamon's last words, as Starkiller felt she almost broke out of stasis, lifted her in the air with the Force, and started slamming her violently against the walls, the ground, objects, anything…

…The droid charged to attack Guilmon, overcoming any obstacles in front of him and shrugging off fireballs Guilmon was sending at him with ease. He remembered the briefing well, and thought Terriermon to be nothing but irrelevant secondary objective. That was a wrong thing to do…

"Terrier tornado!" Terriermon's attack was a surprise for the droid, and was powerful enough to send him flying against a nearby wall. The hit against the wall was so severe and powerful that the wall collapsed on the droid, burying him beneath it.

"We can't face them! They are too strong! We have to retreat!" Takato shouted desperately.

"The path is open! We have to run! C'mon, Rika!" Henry shouted as well and grabbed Rika by her arm, as she was too shocked with seeing the stranger mopping the floor with her digimon. She was practically dragged out of there.

"We can't leave Renamon, Henry!" Takato exclaimed.

"We can't help her, not now. If she can't do it, we wouldn't be able to do it too!" Henry replied harshly as they ran away, before the droid was able to get out from the rubble and pursue them…

… "Damn that droid he messed everything up…" Starkiller thought as he saw his two other targets running away. Failure made him angrier, yet he was able to control it. After all, it was anger that was giving him strength. He raised his victim, Renamon, in the air with the Force once again. She was barely breathing.

"Kill me now you…" Renamon hissed with pain and rage, but she was not able to complete the sentence, because Starkiller swiftly hit her in the head with the butt end of his lightsaber, rendering her unconscious.

"No. Not yet." He muttered and activated his commlink.

"Starkiller to Z-7. I want to speak with executive Smith. Put him through immediately."…

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Another chapter done. Next one will be ready soon, I hope.


	6. Doublecrossed

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 6 – Double-crossed.

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Another chapter ready.

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… Sound of static was heard for a brief moment as Starkiller was connected with his employer via his personal communicator. Soon, the static disappeared, and through a secured channel a familiar voice was heard:

"Yes? What have you brought me?"

"Starkiller here. We have encountered the targets and…" Starkiller started to speak, but was interrupted.

"Ah, yes. Did you succeed? Have you destroyed our enemies?" the voice sounded pretty confident, and because of that Starkiller was a bit reluctant to reveal his actual failure.

"No, two of them managed to escape." He replied calmly, after a small hesitation. An awkward pause followed.

"Escaped? Hmm… I was quite certain you would succeed… What did go wrong?" the voice sounded a bit puzzled and displeased.

"One of the targets held me off while the rest managed to escape. She is currently incapacitated. What should I do with her?" Starkiller asked. He absolutely didn't care, but considered consulting with executive Smith first. They might have wanted a living specimen to perform some tests on. Smith, however, had other plans.

"Perhaps we could use her to undo your failure…" the voice said thoughtfully.

"How do you figure that?" Starkiller inquired curiously.

"If what you say is true, and the digimon you have captured was truly ready to sacrifice itself to let the others get away … that might suggest it really cared about their fate and such, if so, there is a strong probability that the remaining creatures feel the same about it…" Smith continued to voice his thoughts.

"And?" Starkiller inquired impatiently.

"That means they might actually try to organize a stupid attempt of a rescue, even though it is doomed to fail, or avenge the captured digimon's death. In other words, they might actually come to you, and it is you who will decide the place of that final confrontation. Choose it well, so that the targets won't have any escape routes, and your mission would be successful." Smith stated his plan. It was pretty clever, but relied too much on chance and probability.

"What if probabilities won't play out?" Starkiller asked.

"Then you execute the captive and continue your hunt. Any turn of events is, more or less, beneficial to my cause. Sooner or later, this … inconvenience will be dealt with, with your help, of course." Smith replied dryly.

"And you will return my ship to me." Starkiller wanted to make sure his employer doesn't lie about it.

"And your ship would be returned to you." Smith replied emotionlessly. Starkiller got a bit irritated. Smith voice showed absolutely nothing, and he was not able to feel if it was a lie or not.

"There is one more thing. I do not remember anyone telling me that my targets were accompanied by small children. How come?" he asked a bit ironically. Could such an organization miss a spot? Of course not.

"Because they are irrelevant to your mission." Smith replied shortly.

"They use some strange … cards to grant digimon various powers." Starkiller replied, and an unexpected pause followed, as Smith analyzed what he just heard.

"Indeed?" the voice sounded surprised. Smith was not about to hide his emotions this time.

"Yes. You didn't know?" Starkiller found it amusing that an "all-knowing" person didn't know something.

"No I didn't. Thank you for providing me with this information. I knew that some children were following the creatures, but I thought them to be just misguided… I never knew they actually influenced combat, it was not mentioned in the reports… This turns all their actions in a new light… Hmm… I would deal with it, as for you… There is an abandoned hotel on the edge of the city. People do not dwell around there, it is perfect for your ambush. See to it. Dismissed." On that note the transmission was cut off.

"PROXY is back and ready for duty, master." The droid approached, he managed to dig himself out of the rubble. No serious damage was received.

"Whatever. Just make sure you won't let your prey beat you like that again. And it's your fault they got away in the first place, by the way. Help me out with this…" Starkiller grumped as he picked up unconscious digimon and carried her to the black van, which was not too far away.

"As you wish, master…" the droid complied and helped out… In a few moments the van was already out of there, before the crowd managed to come around and gaze on the destruction left after the fight…

… When the children and two remaining digimon made sure that no one was pursuing them, they retreated to Guilmon's hideout – the only hiding spot they knew about, to decide their course of action. They all were very jumpy because of the sudden and brutal attack they barely escaped. The hideout was a safe haven, at least for now.

"We should be safe here … for now." Takato sighed heavily as he closed the rusty gates to the small cave where Guilmon usually spent most of his days.

"That's right. For now. How long it will take them to find where we are?" Henry replied dryly.

"I do not understand. I could swear that none of us or our digimon has ever seen those … men, robots, creatures … whatever they are, let alone causing any harm to them. But it looked to me that they wanted … they wanted to murder us all back there!" Takato exclaimed, and his words were not an exaggeration.

"Plus, I have never seen people that can move objects with mere thoughts. I mean, he practically mopped the floor with … oh…" Henry stopped suddenly. They seemed to forget that Rika was around, yet their talks seemed to be the least thing on her mind. She looked aloof, more than usually, like something died inside of her.

"We cannot leave Renamon just like that! We have to do something!" Takato exclaimed sincerely. This exclamation forced everyone to look at him with amazement.

"Forget it. Renamon is lost. Gone. As my career as a digimon tamer." Rika replied bitterly, turning her eyes away from the boys.

"How could you say that? She is your digimon!" Takato exclaimed in disbelief. To him his Guilmon was like a best of all best friends, and he was not able to understand that Rika's relations with Renamon were on somewhat different level. Yet he managed to touch the right string.

"So? What do you expect me to do about it" Rika replied dryly, and was right, there was little she could do on her own for Renamon.

"We got to save her!" Takato exclaimed once again.

"Well, you know, she might be already…" Terriermon had to "but" in.

"Dead? No, she is not dead. Not yet, and I wonder why…" Rika replied while looking at her D-power. An arrow was showing the way to her digimon's position, and that meant that Renamon was still alive.

"Maybe she managed to escape?" Takato proposed hopefully.

"I doubt it. If she had managed to escape, she would already be here." Rika replied skeptically, and was right again. The unspoken conclusion was that Renamon was captured and held somewhere, but the question was "Why?"

"This must be a trap of some sort. They probably want us to come. But … if I'm wrong, we might actually have an element of surprise." Henry stated all-knowingly. Whether he knew it or not, but that was exactly what the assassins were hoping for.

"We still have to try at least." Takato still insisted.

"Don't be stupid. We were not able to defeat those two even with Renamon at our side. What made you think you will do better all by yourselves?" Rika replied sarcastically, but her words were pretty much ignored.

"You'll help me Henry won't you?" Takato pleaded. His friend sighed heavily and replied:

"Do I have a choice? I cannot allow you to do suicide all by yourself."

Rika was pretty shocked when she heard that. The whole discussion was pretty much of a surprise for her to hear. Those two actually were ready to risk both their and their digimon' lives to help, and to help whom?

"Did you even hear what I said? You won't be able to fight them, they will squash you like bugs! Why do you even bother? You're going out there and you don't even have a clue what to do." Rika attempted to talk them out of this. Failed.

"We won't fight them." Henry suddenly replied, surprising everyone.

"Huh?" everyone gasped.

"We will lose if we do. That's why we just go out there, grab your digimon, and run away like hell." Henry replied. That sounded like a plan, at least.

"And I think you should go with us." Takato added, addressing to Rika.

"Why? I told you that I'm…" she started to answer but was interrupted.

"Your D-power can show us the way, and besides … you can help your digimon with your cards when we get there…" Henry answered. After several moments of hesitation, Rika finally replied:

"Alright. But I know I'm gonna regret this…"

… After several hours Renamon finally regained consciousness. She found herself in a rather large room. But it was strange. There was nothing in the room. Nothing at all, just grey walls. Window openings had no windows, doorway had no doors. The place looked abandoned. "Where am I … Agh!" she barely held her moan, as she felt dull pain from a hit in her head she received not a while ago. Then she started to remember… The fight … and the humiliating defeat at the hands of a … human?!

"I have to get out of here…" she muttered and tried to get up. She failed, because she found herself tied up with ropes strong enough to hold her.

"So I am a prisoner…" she muttered after several unsuccessful attempts to tear them apart. Then, she heard heavy steps coming from the blackness of the doorway, and a voice:

"So, you are awake." It stated, and a person entered the room. Renamon recognized him. It was the one who defeated her so easily in combat. Starkiller.

"Why have you spared me?" she asked, while looking at him with hate and contempt.

"To lure your friends here when they will come to rescue you." Starkiller replied stoically.

"Hnh, they're not my friends." She replied coldly. Starkiller could tell that she was not lying.

"Yet you were ready to sacrifice yourself for them, and held me off to help them avoid my pursuit." He replied, but he was not so sure of his words now.

"I did it so that my tamer could escape." Renamon revealed her true intentions behind that act. Starkiller raised his eyebrow in amazement.

"The child? She was never my target to begin with…" he replied sincerely. Renamon looked down when she heard that.

"But there is still hope she would convince the others to help you, thus luring them here." Starkiller added, and approached Renamon even closer.

"You are wasting your time. She is not that stupid…" Renamon replied, being sure about what she says. But it seemed she didn't know her tamer too well.

"We shall see…" Starkiller replied and delivered another blow with the butt end of his lightsaber to her head. With a quiet moan, she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Did you really have to do that, master?" PROXY said with a bit of pity in his voice.

"Yes, I had to do that. Someone is coming closer, I can feel it. Get to your position." Starkiller ordered and disappeared in the darkness.

"As you command, master." The droid replied, and disappeared in the doorway as well…

… After sneaking through the back-alleys to avoid any detection, the children and the digimon finally came to the place where, according to Rika's D-power, Renamon was held. It was a very old abandoned hotel, which should have been demolished long ago, but by strange circumstance, was not. It was abandoned after a great fire that took place there, about 20 years ago. The markings on the walls still reminded those who passed it about the tragedy that took place. Windowless openings looked like many dead and hollow eyes of a strange skull, that place was marked with horrible deaths of many of its former inhabitants, that is why people rarely dwelt there, afraid of ghosts.

"Eeesh, what a creepy place. I bet there are ghosts in there, I can feel it!" Takato exclaimed with some degree of fascination.

"Feel any red laser-sword-wielding ghosts creeping up on us like the last time?" Henry replied with irony.

Rika didn't take part in the discussion. She was not up for pointless talks right now. The only thing occupying her mind was the location of her digimon right now. That's why she rushed ahead of the group to the entrance of the abandoned hotel.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Takato shouted as he and the others rushed to catch up with her…

… They have searched through countless rooms, halls, and corridors of the place, but still couldn't find any trace of Renamon. Yet the D-power continued to insist that she was here somewhere. They searched through different levels of the structure, but to no result.

Finally, they came searching through the last floor of the place, almost ready to give up and leave, when they finally managed to find who they were seeking all this time. Renamon's yellow color was in a contrast to grey walls of the place, so she was easy to spot.

"Renamon!" everyone shouted as they charged into the room. She was still unconscious, and, as they have discovered a moment later, tied up.

"Damn, does anyone have a knife or something?" Rika asked in frustration, yet the answer to her question was "No."

"I can bite off the ropes…" Guilmon proposed a bit shyly. But he was right. The strongest muscles are the ones that are in the jaws.

"Alright, just be careful." Rika replied and without further delay Guilmon disposed of the ropes that were restricting Renamon's movements. The next moment Rika was already trying to wake her digimon up by slapping her cheeks.

"C'mon, Renamon! Wake up, we have to get out of here! Fast!" when Rika said that her digimon's eyes suddenly opened wide. She was very amazed to see everyone here.

"What are you doing here?" Renamon asked as she got back up on her feet. She was still a bit dizzy, and her wrists hurt because of the ropes.

"Is that the right way to thank us for your res…" Takato suddenly stopped, because Renamon's face darkened in a second, and her eyes were showing nothing besides cold anger and hostility, as she was looking at the only doorway in the room.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked.

"You shouldn't have come… This is a trap… And they used me as bait…" she replied dimly. From the doorway were heard heavy steps and metal clanking. Several moments later two all-too-familiar figures appeared, blocking the only possible escape route.

"We were hoping you would arrive." Starkiller said grimly. His droid, now without camouflage, was not giving a friendly impression either. As for the human, he had a murderous look in his eyes, such that could creep even Renamon out.

"What the hell do you want from us?! Why are you hunting us?! We never did anything bad to you!" Takato exclaimed, yet his words sounded more than a little bit childishly for two killers, tried and true.

"Stand aside, kid. We're here only for the digimon." Starkiller said and made a step forward.

"Why? What did they do to you?" Takato continued his exclamations. These were beginning to get annoying.

"Nothing personal kid, now stand aside. I won't warn you one more time." Starkiller threatened.

"We won't let you kill them." Henry supported his friend with a very unusual seriousness in his voice.

"Then I don't really have a choice." Starkiller replied grimly and activated his lightsaber. His droid did the same. But as they were about to charge and cut everyone into tiny little bits, a strange sound was heard from outside. It sounded like something was chopping the air really fast.

"What the hell is that?" Starkiller asked, and several moments later outside the windows appeared something that looked like a military helicopter. A black military helicopter…

… In the helicopter cockpit…

"Sir, all targets are sighted and locked. Missiles are ready to fire at your mark." Co-pilot confirmed readiness to attack.

"Put the missiles to explode after three seconds if they don't hit anything, in case that psyonic would use his telekinesis to stop them in flight." The pilot replied.

"Roger that." Copilot confirmed and pressed several more buttons…

… Everyone inside was stalking the chopper with amazement and fear. They have never seen that magnificent and deadly flying machine this close.

"Master! That was not a part of the battle plan!" Droid exclaimed.

"I know. We have been betrayed…" Starkiller replied when several missiles were launched at them directly through the window openings.

Starkiller managed to stop the rockets with the Force, but, unfortunately for him, that move was foreseen.

3

2

1

Explosion sequence activated.

The missiles exploded…

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To be continued. Also, it would be nice to see some reviews once in a while ;)


	7. Noble, Vindictive and Reasonable

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 7 – The Noble, the Vindictive and the Reasonable.

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Another chapter ready.

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… "Sons of bi…" Starkiller managed to scream when the missiles exploded. The explosion was so powerful it leveled down the ceiling in several places and destroyed a couple supporting walls. The only exit, along with half of the room, caved in. Shrapnel and napalm were supposed to make sure no one would be able to escape death.

"I have no visual of the target. I think we got them." main pilot reported, after waiting for some time for the smoke to clear out.

"Are you sure?" copilot said doubtingly.

"Positive." A short reply came.

"Maybe we should launch a couple more just to be safe." copilot was precautious.

"That would be a waste of ammunition. No one could survive several missile explosions at such a close range. They have to be made out of armor or something. Base, come in, base, this is Red crown – 5 reporting. All targets are destroyed, I repeat, all targets are destroyed. Over." the main pilot reported to main base.

"Roget that, red crown – 5. Return to base. Over." A reply came from the base, and the black chopper flew away, being absolutely certain they did the job right…

But, by some really strange circumstance, they didn't do the job right. Scared to death by the sudden attack and the explosions, both children and their digimon finally dared to open their eyes. At first they didn't believe it. They have survived. The explosion managed to knock them off their feet, but none was really hurt. Strangely, all shrapnel, everything that was supposed to tear bodies to shreds, hit anything but the place where they were standing. But there was a reason why it happened that way…

"Wha…? No way… We're … still alive?" Henry muttered as he tried to stand up. It was ringing in his ears, his eyesight was a bit blurry – aftereffects of a concussion, but he managed to keep balance and not fall to the floor again.

"I thought my eardrums would explode…" Takato moaned as he tried to stand up also. His efforts were less successful, and he would have fallen if Henry wouldn't have helped him stand straight. Renamon was back on her feet also, acting like nothing happened, but it was obvious she was shaken by the explosion too. She helped her tamer and other digimon get up.

"I think I just started to believe in God." Rika mumbled. When she saw the missiles fired a slideshow of all her life passed in front of her eyes, and it was quite a surprise for her to find out that she survived.

"I … still can't believe it… They fired at us … like … missiles! And we're still alive." Henry said and looked around. The only doorway from which they came was blocked by rubble and debris. The part of the room which had window openings was also blocked. Frankly, they were cut off, blocked and unable to get out.

"Err… It looks like were trapped, people." Takato made a conclusion.

"Great, out of the frying pen and into the fire. Renamon, teleport out of here and find us a way out." Rika ordered, but Renamon only shook her head in disagreement.

"I'm sorry, I cannot do that." She said softly.

"And why not?" Rika asked harshly.

"I can teleport only where I can go physically. And I am trapped here with you. Wouldn't it be easier to look for alternate escape route from the inside?" Renamon replied softly, but with a bit of irony. What she told was true, but she considered that such irrational commands were because her tamer was still a bit shaken. But there was a different thing on Renamon's mind right now.

She still remembered that brief conversation she had with her former captor before he incapacitated her again. She was absolutely sure no one would come for her, and, to be honest, her captors weren't putting too much hope in such a turn of events too. She actually felt grateful. "This … was unexpected. But how did she…? Did she actually asked for their help or did the others come by themselves? If they did, then why…?" but her thoughts were disturbed by her tamer's another order:

"Then make yourself useful and make us a way out! Smash through that wall or something!" Rika was losing what little of calmness she had. But she restrained herself from panicking even further.

"As you wish." Renamon replied and smashed the wall with all her strength. It left a rather large dent, but the wall was not breached.

"Wow… I mean just … wow. Talking about being very strong." Both Takato and Henry gasped.

"Not strong enough." Rika retorted, and slashed a strength boost card through her D-power. Renamon smashed the wall once again, but to no avail. The wall she was trying to break through was one of the supporting walls, which was made very thick, to withstand earthquakes.

"It would take me a while to break through…" Renamon replied, waiting for orders whether she should keep hitting the wall or abandon the idea.

"Well, at least that blast killed off those two murderous assassins for sure…" Takato tried to remain optimistic, when suddenly Terriermon's voice was heard:

"Um… I think you might wanna take a look at this…"

Only he noticed that in the far corner of what remained of the room there was a body. A dent on the wall nearby suggested that the body hit it very hard, thrown by the wave of explosion. The arms of the body were badly burned, clothes were shattered in many places, sharp shards protruded from the wounds, it was not pretty. Renamon, however, recognized the body, mostly by the thing in his right hand – the lightsaber.

"It's one of the assassins." She stated.

"Incredible that the body is still intact, I mean, when the rockets exploded he and his robot were only several meters away…" Henry said in amazement, as his friend Takato approached the body. "No one could have survived such a blast…" he thought as he grabbed Starkiller's arm searching for pulse. To both his surprise and horror, he felt a slight pulse under his finger.

"Err… I think he is still alive… I think…" he exclaimed, and his words put everyone in a state of shock for a couple of seconds.

"Alive? No way, it can't be!" Henry exclaimed in disbelief and rushed to the body also, only to confirm Takato's words.

"Hnh, bastards die hard." Rika spitted out with hatred and anger. She felt no remorse for the wounded foe, who threatened her, and her digimon, and her newly-found friends with death. Neither she nor the rest of the group knew that it was only thanks to that man's control of the Force that they have actually survived. When the missiles exploded, Starkiller absorbed the majority of the power of the blast with his Force shield. Although he was not powerful enough to contain all the blast, it he managed to stop the blast and survive, albeit barely. Even though not by his own will, the assassin became a shield for the rest…

"Hmm… I think I just got an idea how to get out of here…" Henry muttered as he released the lightsaber from Starkiller's grip. It was not a devise of incredible complexity, and Henry saw it activated a few times already, so he pushed the button to activate it again. A red laser blade appeared out of the hilt, lighting everything up with its crimson light.

"Hey what are you doing put that thing down! What are you trying to do get yourself killed?!" Rika shouted at Henry, who was holding the sword with both of his hands.

"In a lot of Sci-Fi movies lasers can cut through anything… Maybe it will work so in reality…" Henry explained and stabbed the part of the wall Renamon was trying to break through not a while ago. To his amazement, the blade went through solid concrete like a hot knife through butter. Henry started to "make a door", burning through the wall with the lightsaber. In a matter of minutes a section of the wall was detached, and it was so much easier for Renamon to move it away.

"Henry you're a genius!!!" Terriermon concluded as the new exit was ready.

"He he, no, not really…" Henry replied modestly, while the others were already making their way through the exit. But suddenly, Takato, who was going to be the last to leave, stopped.

"C'mon hurry up we have to keep moving! What did you stop for?!" Rika asked a bit harshly.

"Wait. We can't just leave him there." Takato replied and went back, followed by his digimon. Amazed by such a reaction, the others followed in as well. They knew full well who he was talking about.

"Of course we could leave him let's go!" Rika shouted again as Takato was making several unsuccessful attempts to put Starkiller's helpless body on his digimon's back.

"No we cannot. If we leave him he will die." Takato replied confidently, and was not going to back away.

"Yes we can. Renamon, break that guy's neck so that Gogglehead wouldn't worry about his fate anymore." Rika ordered viciously.

"With pleasure." Renamon replied in the same demeanor as her tamer and made a few steps towards Starkiller to put him out of his misery, but found Guilmon standing in her way and not letting her pass.

"Out of my way." Renamon wanted to push Guilmon away, but failed to do so. Guilmon was pretty strong physically in his own right.

"Takatomon said not to harm him!" Guilmon growled back. None was about to back away and Renamon was already counting her chances of winning the fight, when Henry managed to stop a potential conflict with a voice of sense:

"Takato is right, we shouldn't kill him. If anything, we must find out who he works for. He said that the whole thing was "nothing personal", so there is someone who sent him, someone who wishes our digimon dead, gone. He is not the real thread, not now." His words had sense indeed, and his speech managed to cool off the hot heads.

"What made you think he wouldn't fight us as soon as he regains consciousness again?" Rika asked suspiciously.

"Please, look at him. He is not in any shape to fight, he just survived a direct missile hit." Henry replied with iron logic. It was hard to argue against that.

"What made you think he would just give out hat information?" Rika continued to resist.

"Because … that rocket was not meant to kill only us, but them as well. For some reason whoever wanted to dispose of us, wanted to dispose of them at the same time. I doubt someone would still be loyal after such a clear betrayal." Henry retorted.

"Very well. But if he will refuse to give us what we want to know, I will force it out of him. And no one better be in my way when I do…" Renamon said grimly, with such a murderous blue flame in her eyes it gave shivers to everyone, and left through the opening.

"Henry, can you help me out with this?" Takato asked to help him put the body on Guilmon's back.

"Sure." Henry replied promptly, and in less than a minute the body was ready for transportation.

"Great, just great. Taking with us someone who tried to kill us. We should leave him for dead." Rika sarcastically, but the last sentence was said honestly. For some reason that remark made Henry turn his head to her and practically pin her down with his glare.

"What are you looking at?" Rika asked, that glare creeped her out.

"You know, you're very heartless for such a young girl." Henry sighed, and followed Takato and Guilmon out through the opening. Henry's words were like a cold shower. Rika didn't say a thing afterward… The group managed to get out of the hotel within several minutes. Renamon was sent to scout up ahead in case they were watched by someone. After Renamon reported that there was no one dangerous around, they left the hotel, and disappeared into the small forest that was near the hotel...

After everyone left, and darkness of the night covered the hotel, something began to move in the rubble. Slowly, slowly, pushing away the remains of concrete blocks, it was making its way through the debris. Damaged, battered, but still fully functional and battle-ready, it dug itself out. Sinister metallic steps were echoing in the dark, abandoned corridors… Machines were built to survive greater hazards than your average organic being could. And such a unique and expensive model like PROXY was built to last…

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There, done. Hope you liked this chapter.


	8. Friend or foe?

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 8 – Friend or foe?

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Another chapter done. Thank for following the story so far =)

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… For a couple of hours the group was running away from the place where they were attacked. They were scared. Everyone had the feeling that they were followed, and several times they fell to the ground at the sound of a helicopter flying above them.

They entered a small wood. It was safer there than on open ground. It was getting dark, and it was too late and too dangerous to go home, so they decided to stay there for the night. Besides, they were not able to enter the city anyway, not with their wounded prisoner with them.

Finally, they managed to find a small cave. It was dry inside, and no insects, snakes, filth or other kind of vermin, so they decided to stay there for a while. With Guilmon's help they set up a small fire to keep them warm during the night. After that, they decided to take a closer look at their prisoner's wounds.

"… His arms are badly burned… Oh my… Those are at least second or third grade burns…" Takato gasped, being in horror from the sight. The fingers received most damage. The skin on several of them was charred, almost black. Where fire did less damage, the skin was red and blisters were beginning to appear all over it. It was not a pretty sight to see.

"Gosh… It must be very painful… We … we should do something about it… if we can." Henry proposed, yet there was little they could do. They had no bandages, no medicaments that could help, no nothing. They didn't even have water.

"You think he could actually … die?" Terriermon asked as he approached his tamer on his tiny little legs.

"Don't be ridiculous. People, and especially bastards like him, don't die of such burns, at least, not immediately. We need him only to find out what we are up against. What happens to him after that – is not of our concern." Rika said cold-heartedly from behind. She and her digimon both approached the body, Renamon made a step forward, kneeled before the body.

"What do you want to do?" both boys asked and stepped aside, they didn't want to be a hindrance to whatever Renamon was about to do.

"Search him." Renamon replied swiftly and started to check the pockets. After several minutes of searching she fished out his CPC, and handed it over to Rika.

"Maybe this will tell us something…" she said and tried to turn it on, but no matter how many times she pushed the power button, the screen remained black.

"Damn, it must be broken." Rika said in a bit of frustration, but didn't throw the devise away, because she didn't know what was wrong with it exactly. Meanwhile Renamon continued her searching. When she was checking the utility belt, she found something strapped to it, and took it.

"Hmm, another laser sword…" she commented as she turned it on. This lightsaber had a blue blade, which was a bit unexpected. And the handle differed from the red-bladed lightsaber. Also, Renamon was able to find a skein of rope, and a knife. The knife was strange, however. It started to vibrate whenever the button on it was pushed. The kitsune touched the blade with one of her digits. "It is very sharp…" she noted in her mind, and started to cut away pieces of clothes that were burned and too close to the burned skin, so that it would not irritate the burns. The rest watched her actions in amazement.

"Where did you learned to do that?" Guilmon asked.

"Books." A short reply came. When Renamon finished with that, she took the ropes she found on the body and used them to tie up arms and legs of the incapacitated assassin.

"Err… Is that really necessary?" Henry inquired, and received a rather sharp glare from Renamon.

"I'm not taking any chances." She replied and finished what she was doing in a matter of minutes.

"Well I'm not wasting one more minute around that … that corpse. Renamon, you watch him. If he wakes up and tries anything – shoot him. He doesn't have his weapon to deflect the shot now." Rika hissed and slashed her card, and a gun appeared on her digimon's arm again.

"I'll do my part." Renamon replied, as the rest of the group went back to the fireplace, leaving her alone in the dark corner, along with the body…

… Several more hours passed by. It was late at night already, so the children tried to sleep, though the night was not exactly warm, and they had no sheets or blankets whatsoever. Soon, nothing was disturbing the silence. Only Renamon was the one left awake, to keep a firm lookout for any enemies, or the prisoner. Her gun was always pointed at his head, ready to blast it to smithereens just in case. She was alone who was awake, or at least she thought so.

"You know, there is nothing wrong in being afraid…" suddenly she heard a voice from behind her. In a reflex she turned around to face who ever managed to sneak up behind her without notice. To her surprise she found out that it was no one other than Terriermon.

"I fear no one." She answered calmly, and turned away, redirecting her attention on the unconscious prisoner again. She thought it to be clear enough that she doesn't want to continue the discussion, although it proved that not clear enough.

"I may look like a stuffed animal and act childishly at times, but I know a difference between being cautious and being afraid." That remark managed to get her attention again.

"Indeed?" Renamon asked with a bit of irony.

"Indeed. Even while talking to me, you still point a gun at an immobilized, wounded and unconscious prisoner. Take it easy. Momentai." A slightly sarcastic reply was heard from behind. It made the fox turn around. She took lectures from no one, aside her tamer, even though with a grudge. It was a bit of surprise for her that there was no one behind her. Terriermon just disappeared, and she didn't have a clue how. But that was irrelevant. She sat on a stone and kept observing the prisoner, although the gun was not pointed at him at the time…

… The silence and tranquility of the night was broken by loud coughing. After so many hours, the prisoner finally showed signs of life, other than breathing. Whether he was rendered out cold by a hit against the wall or a pain shock, or both, he was now returning back to being conscious. That cough woke up everyone in the camp.

Starkiller opened his eyes. For a couple of seconds his eyes were getting used to the light, and the images he saw were becoming less blurry. He was quite startled when, instead of his loyal PROXY, he saw a whole bunch of faces staring at him with curiosity. And after that he felt … pain. His arms felt as if they were dipped in molten carbonite. He recognized the faces soon enough though.

"… How do the tables turn…" he hissed after some hesitation, making a sign that he was not in too much pain to talk or understand what was told to him.

"Yes. Not so tough without your flashlight-swords huh? And you know what, whether you live or die depends upon our whim. What do you think of that, hmm?" Rika mocked him, yet the reaction was not what she expected.

"I think you're a snot-nosed punk who thinks too much of herself. Kill me or leave me alive, but spare me your tired threads." Starkiller replied with a sarcastic smile, and the arrogance of his reply managed to stun Rika for a moment.

"Err, let me do the talking, Rika. Maybe now you will answer the questions we posed you back at the hotel more directly and in full. Who are you and why have you attacked us?" Henry took the leading role in the discussion and clashed glares with the prisoner. A couple of moments later he was forced to turn his eyes away. He was not able to hold his glare, there was too much anger and hate in it.

"I'm an assassin. I attacked you because I had orders to kill your digimon. See? Simple." He replied shortly.

"Who do you work for?" Henry posed another question.

"You mean WORKED for. There is a covert government-sanctioned military organization, called the "Black watch". They want to exterminate all digimon, everywhere. In other words – you're in trouble. Deeply in trouble." Starkiller sighed out. Grim silence was held for several moments.

Without saying anything, Renamon made several steps towards Starkiller, and grabbed him by the collar, giving him an icy glare.

"Where is their base of operations? Tell me. NOW." She said threateningly, but all her intimidation techniques that would have made an average person shiver like a leaf were of no use against a hardcore sith assassin. And, despite being weaponless, immobilized and wounded, Starkiller was not entirely defenseless. A harsh Force kick in the chest made her release the grip and take a few steps back, breathing heavily.

"I do not need to use my hands to beat you. I will not warn you twice." He replied mockingly, and after exchanging a couple of more glares, filled with hatred to each other, Renamon stood back to her place…

"The … government?" Henry reiterated.

"This … is bad. Really bad." Rika sighed.

"But what did our digimon do to them? They never ever attacked anyone or caused trouble!" Takato exclaimed, as if Starkiller was to blame for the Black watch's strategies.

"They view all digimon as vermin, inferior and faulty programs gone rogue, a constant source of chaos and a thread to public safety." He replied carelessly. If anything, it was not his problem.

A couple of minutes passed in silence, everyone was thinking about what have they just heard. The news was grim indeed. If it would have been a single person or a group, they could have tried to fight back, but an entire organization? The most terrible foe anyone could imagine. A foe that would stop at nothing to achieve its goals.

"You know … if the government wants us destroyed… maybe we should … you know, split up for a while? Go away and such…" Terriermon said sadly.

"We do not want to be trouble…" Guilmon added. Renamon only nodded in agreement. "Well what do you know, those creatures seem to genuinely care for the kids…" Starkiller noted to himself upon witnessing the scene.

"If we are the source of trouble, we should disappear." Terriermon concluded. It was painful to admit to each of the digimon. None of them wanted to leave their tamers, but if the cost of staying was too high…

"Won't work." Starkiller disturbed the thoughts quite abruptly.

"Why not?" Renamon inquired.

"Because the missiles were not meant to kill only me, my droid and you three, but them as well. You kids know too much. Way too much. You are considered dangerous, and it would be safer for them to silence you forever." A grim prediction came. It stunned everyone for a couple more moments.

"What… what made you so sure?" Henry asked, almost paralyzed by catatonic fear.

"Hnh, that's what I would do in the place of a man who's in charge of that organization. And I could tell that the man I'm talking about is far worse than me…" Starkiller replied. And he was not bluffing, anyone who was in touch with the Force had ability to see parts of the future, and what he saw was … quite horrible.

The awkward pause lasted for several more minutes. The information was too much for both the children and the digimon to absorb. Starkiller had to give some credit to the children. He expected them to fall to the ground in hysteria after they heard the news. But then, suddenly, Starkiller felt something.

"Someone's coming…" he said and turned his head to the entrance of the cave. Everyone froze still, with only Guilmon moving in front of the group to meet the presumable attack, and Renamon got her gun ready. But as whatever lurked in the darkness of the night drew closer, Starkiller understood what it was. And … started laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Rika hissed angrily.

"It's a friend of mine coming. I was wondering when he would find me." Starkiller replied through laughter, as that "friend" of his finally reached the entrance. A familiar humming of a lightsaber was heard. The red light of the blade was piercing the night, and was gleaming on the polished chest plate of the droid. PROXY was quick on his feet too. As soon as his photo-receptors focused on his master, in a couple more moments he was already between Starkiller and his captors, pointing his blade at them threateningly.

"Ease down, PROXY. They were not going to harm me." Starkiller said, he was very glad that his trusted droid companion survived the explosion.

"It is a pleasure to see you alive, master! I hope they didn't harm you, if they did – just give me your word and I will gut and dismember each and every one of them PERSONALLY." The droid turned his head to the rest of the group and his "eyes" started to glow as red as his lightsaber.

"No, they did no such things, but … untie these annoying ropes will you?" Starkiller asked.

"Certainly, master." PROXY replied and with two swift strikes of his lightsaber the ropes fell apart, and Starkiller stood up from the ground.

"I know only the location of two outposts of the Black watch. They have many bases across the country, from what I understood. Where their center of command is, or who is their supreme leader or how he looks like – I do not know. Apparently, they never gave us any info on their organization because they were planning to dispose of us." Starkiller said to his former captors.

"This doesn't make sense. Why would they want to dispose of such a … capable agent?" Rika asked in disbelief.

"That is because I never was their "agent". I was forced to work with them because they have something I need. And to get it I had to … I had to dispose of you." Starkiller sighed.

"Something? Like what?" Takato asked curiously.

"My ship. If I had my ship I would have fixed it and left this backwater planet for good. But when we crashed, that scum overran and captured my ship. They said that if I will cooperate, they would return my ship to me. Now it's pretty obvious they never intended to return it to me in the first place…" Starkiller replied.

"So, let me get this straight… You're … an alien?" Rika asked with disbelief. That question made both the droid and its master laugh.

"No, I'm a human. You didn't think that humans existed only or your planet did you?" Starkiller asked, and Rika felt ridiculously.

"So… now that you're not in league with the Black watch, what will you do?" Henry asked, and Starkiller suddenly stopped laughing. His face regained the grim and murderous look and an evil flame in the eyes.

"I'm going to get my ship back. And cut a bloody swath through that entire organization while I'm at it. No one double-crosses me… and lives." Starkiller really meant what he said. They tried to blast him with a rocket. This means war.

"There is an old proverb, it says: seek an enemy of your enemy, and you may find a friend." Henry suddenly said. And what he said put everyone in a shock for a couple of moment.

"Henry you can't be serious?! Those assassins haven't got a lick of conscience, they'll betray us in a heartbeat!" Rika exclaimed.

"I don't think they are stupid enough to be fooled by false promises twice, Rika. So what do you say? If what you said is true, and this so-called Black watch is going to hunt us all down, we could join forces. Together we might accomplish more than on our own, separated." Henry proposed to Starkiller. "The kid just wants someone strong to fight for them, even though he fears and don't trust me… Smart on his part, but their ragtag bunch would only slow me down… I could fight this alone… But…"

In spite of all rational thought, for some reason unknown to anyone but himself, Starkiller replied:

"Alright, it's a deal."...

... At the same time, not too far away from the place the group was hiding in, back at the abandoned hotel, there were specialists from Black watch at work. They were busy. They had the task to find the bodies. But, no matter how hard they looked, they weren't able to find any. Because there weren't any. After many busy hours the chief officer in charge of the excavations, reported:

"We haven't found the bodies. The targets must have escaped..."

..."... the targets ... escaped... It seems that I've ... miscalculated. Things just got a lot worse... Put me through with the officer in charge of the outpost Z-7. Begin emergency evacuation immediately. It's an order!" Smith almost shouted and shut down the monitor...

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There, done.


	9. Running away

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 9 – On the run.

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Another chapter ready. I want to thank everyone who still reads his story, and especially **Rubberman2025 **and **dracula-key** for reviewing. It's refreshing to know somebody actually cares about my work =)

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… Smith was getting a bit nervous as he waited for the operator to patch through a secured link with the chairman. He had to report the situation, and also consult on the recent developments. It was quite tempting not to report anything or to make a false report, knowing that the chairman trusts him entirely – which was extremely rare in such organizations, where everything is situated on deceit and spying one after another. But Smith gained the trust of the chairman, as well as his own post, only because he was honest, at least with his colleagues, and was able to admit his own failures.

"Greetings, chairman." Smith said with his casual monotonic intonation.

"Ahh, executive Smith. I was waiting for your report for some time now." The chairman sounded anxious to hear it.

"I have news about the aliens, and the digimon…" Smith said a bit reluctantly.

"The aliens? Oh, yes, those aliens you managed to convince to deal with our own problems. So, your operation was a success, or wasn't it?" the chairman noticed the slight reluctance in the voice of his underling, and was beginning to get suspicious.

"No, it was not a success. Operation proved to be a complete failure. Both the aliens and the digimon escaped… The situation just got a lot more complicated. Now we have to deal with both the digimon and their tamers, who are aware of our intentions now, but also with two rogue, powerful and incredibly dangerous aliens. I am afraid of retribution from their part…" Smith said clearly, still clinging to his unwavering demeanor, yet the turmoil was kept inside.

"Failure… Complete, utter failure… YOUR failure, Smith. I entrusted you with this mission because I knew you would get the job done. And you … not only you have failed to live up to my expectations, you made things worse! Far worse!" the chairman exclaimed in anger.

"I know, and I take full responsibility for my failure. I apologize." Smith replied grudgingly, he knew that he did wrong, and he didn't like it. Who would like to be scolded like this?

"Save your excuses, Smith. Ugh… Was the outpost, which is known to the aliens, evacuated? I do not want the repeat of the scenario of the B-4 outpost, which they hit when we first encountered them." The chairman asked wryly.

"The entire complex has been evacuated, all data transferred through the network and the equipment was saved. The entire building is now one demolition trap." The executive reported back.

"Good. If the aliens are stupid enough, we will get rid of that problem with a bang. But first, you have to tell me, what went wrong with your plan. I know you, you plan your operations better than anyone, and calculate everything. What was the fatal error?" the chairman asked curiously.

"The targets survived a DIRECT hit with several missiles. I was not able to predict that." Smith sighed. The chairman was left amazed and speechless for several moments.

"Yes, indeed … that was … unexpected. But why did you choose such a messy approach? There are more conventional methods, like, sniping, for instance." The chairman proposed.

"I believe you have read the reports from before, which clearly stated that one of the aliens, Starkiller, has the ability to STOP bullets with his telekinesis. I figured he would not be able to stop a blast wave. Apparently, I was wrong. But there must be some way to deal with this … seemingly invincible target…" the executive said thoughtfully.

"Do not forget the matter of the digimon. We have to deal with them as well. What would be your next step?" the chairman inquired.

"Chairman, I ask you to give me the authority to involve local police forces in my operation." Smith asked, and watched the amazement on his boss's face.

"The police? Are you crazy, Smith? The police will inevitably attract the press, and other curious folks. Is this really necessary?" the boss asked, with doubt.

"Yes, we would need their help. If we have at least one tracker on the digimon to predict their movements, we don't have any beacons on the aliens. Their movements are concealed, we don't even know if they're still in that area." Smith replied with confidence.

"Alright, Smith. But I hope you know what you're doing. If you fail again… there will be dire consequences." The chairman said threateningly.

"I am fully aware of that, chairman. Executive Smith out." Smith ended the call, and switched off the transmission. He was displeased. Very displeased. This inconvenience was a black stain on his perfect record, and this was not going to be tolerated. He rested his eyes for a brief moment and requested to be put through with one of his underlings, who were the superintendant general of the Tokyo metropolitan police department. He too, was aware and informed of the situation to some degree.

"Good day to you, executive Smith." The superintendant said without much emotion. He didn't like to deal with anyone of the Black watch, but his duty required cooperation between those branches.

"You may dispense with the pleasantries. I believe you are fully informed about our fiasco of dealing with the alien scum and the rogue programs known as digimon. I want you to mobilize all forces at your disposal and surround the area around Tokyo." Smith said coldly, and he noticed that the forehead of the high-ranking police officer was beginning to cover with sweat.

"B… but, sir… I have read the reports… Do you really believe my men would be able to stop them?" he said with worry. He actually worried for his men, how touching. But it couldn't touch one who is made out of stone.

"Of course not. They would merely serve as indicators whether the targets have left the area or not. Also, spread the word that this is a part of some sort of an anti-terrorist drill, and lure any journalists somewhere they wouldn't find anything suspicious. See to it. Out." Smith gave the order in a tone that didn't accept objections.

"Yes, sir. As you command." The superintendant replied and ended transmission. Smith stared into the black monitor for several seconds with a blank stare. "How do you kill someone who can stop bullets in air, escape powerful blasts and so on and so on? It seems that his god-damned telekinesis protects him from everything we might be able to throw at him… Hmm… I need something… A weapon, which could not be affected by telekinesis, or that would shoot rounds at such a velocity that even that alien wouldn't be able to react in time… Or maybe both…"

… The newly formed team finally left the cave that was their shelter for those few hours. The fire that they started earlier was extinguished, and the cave was cleared of any evidence that they were there.

"I'm going to put it plainly. If you people want to actually survive, you will have to do exactly as I say." Starkiller said, bringing forth the matter of who is in charge.

"Hnh, I don't remember voting for you." Rika replied in a rebellious manner. She was offended by a mere thought that she would take orders from someone she despised so much.

"Rika, I think you should at least listen to what he has to say…" Henry tried to cool her off.

"… Because I have seen more combat than the rest of you put together. And you're not fighting that giant ape thing. The enemy we now face if far more dangerous and cunning. It will use every last resort against you, and prey on your every weakness. He will find a way to turn against you your friends and even your families…" Starkiller replied. Then, suddenly, everyone stopped, like frozen in their tracks. Their faces showed sheer horror.

"What … did he just say?" Takato asked slowly, his tongue refused to obey him.

"Our f … families… Damn…" Henry managed to squeeze out of himself. Starkiller looked at their reaction with pity.

"My point exactly. Thoughts?" Starkiller continued, he knew that the lesson he was going to teach them would be very, very painful. But it had to be done.

"We have to warn them, and…" Rika tried to say, but was interrupted before she managed to finish the thought.

"Save them? That is exactly what I meant by a weakness. The same thing I performed when I took your yellow digimon hostage. They want to force you to come where they want, and destroy you. Our only chance to survive is to follow a pattern they wouldn't be able to predict. You must understand that you CAN'T help them." Starkiller said coldly. No one was able to disagree with what he said, although it was not pleasant.

"Maybe they haven't reached them yet. Then, we could warn them. Renamon, could you go and see what's going on at our houses? You must not be seen." Rika asked her digimon.

"It will be done." Renamon nodded and disappeared into thin air. Starkiller only shrugged. He foresaw such reactions, and there was no other way to prove he's right. "First rule – don't trust anyone outside the group, otherwise you may be lead to a trap. Second rule – Let go of any connections with other people, if you want to survive. They might be used against you. The first one is easy to follow, but the second…" Starkiller thought as he stared for a couple of seconds into the spot where Renamon was standing just several moments ago…

… In less than 15 minutes, Renamon appeared out of nowhere. Everyone was waiting for her, and for what she had to say. It was possible to say from the look on her face, that she had brought bad news.

"Well?"everyone asked.

"Police officers in all three houses. I have overheard the talks they had with your parents. They are investigating your "disappearance"." Renamon replied and sighed heavily.

"Maybe they're there because our parents called them? We were supposed to be home a long time ago…" Takato proposed.

"Unlikely. I saw several heavily armed soldiers outside the house. They all had the "eye" insignias on their shoulders." Renamon retorted.

"They think you might return home. That's the first place a person usually runs to when encountering danger. And that is the reason why under no circumstance you must go there. They will be waiting." Starkiller explained. It was hard to accept, but it was the truth.

"But if we can't go home, where should we go?" Henry asked.

"It is not the destination that matters, it is the journey. No matter where we go, sooner or later they will find us, but it is significantly harder to catch a target that is always on the move, and I have just a thing to increase our movement speed. Follow me." The droid, PROXY, suddenly entered the discussion.

Curious, everybody followed the metallic droid out of the forest, to the road. There, they found a white mini-van.

"Where did you get it?" Starkiller asked in amazement.

"I figured out we might require transportation, master. That is why I found the black van that was given to us by the black watch, when we still served them. Disabled the tracking device built in it and then disposed of the truck, and stole this one." The droid explained.

"Why didn't you take the black van, if you had disabled its tracking device?" Renamon inquired.

"Because I calculated that they would be thinking that we took the van for ourselves, and wouldn't be looking for a van of different color." PROXY explained and opened the door at the back side of their van. To everyone's amazement, it was filled with various ammunition, guns, and such. Everyone gazed at all that for a couple of seconds, and gave the droid questioning glares.

"Of course, I transferred all useful things from the black van, I figured they would come in handy." The droid replied.

"The guy who made you should have received a medal… if, uh, he wouldn't have been killed to reserve the secrecy. So, I guess you're the one driving?" Starkiller inquired, as his mood became a lot better.

"Yes, and, master, you should do something about your arms. Here, I have the extra reserve med pack you told me to keep, please, let me take care of your burns…" PROXY said and a panel in his chest opened and he took out a white box. Inside there were some medicaments none of the children or digimon ever saw, some bandages and a bottle of blue liquid. The droid dipped the bandages in the liquid and wrapped them all around his arms in less than a minute. "Well what do you know, the robot actually cares for his master…" Rika noted to herself as she witnessed the whole procedure.

"There, done, master. Good as new. Now we should get out of here." PROXY said as he activated his holographic camouflage unit and regained the appearance of a typical car driver, and sat at the wheel.

"You kids and digimon are to go in the back." Starkiller replied as he took the place next to the driver, and the next minute the mini-van went off…

... "I think I should dispose of the digimon and their tamers first, since they are less dangerous, and then focus my efforts on the aliens… At least I know where they are at the moment, thanks to this very handy tracking program Yamaki has bestowed upon them… Hnh, at least he did something useful… Hmm… Shooting down the digimon who do not possess supernatural speed would not be much trouble, but what should be done about their strongest one… I might just have an Idea… " Smith thought about Renamon as the operator was connecting him to the headquarters.

"Yes, sir, what are your orders?" the captain of the elite squad, which Smith contacted earlier, replied.

"Your targets have changed. You will follow the beacon that will lead you to your targets, and you will be armed with VERY special equipment. About 20 more operatives will aid you in this mission." Executive said with a cold, emotionless intonation, and transferred several files which would aid his soldiers with information they contained.

"Understood. What would be the first priority targets?" the captain asked.

"Shoot the children FIRST." Smith replied mercilessly.

"… Yes, … sir" the captain replied after much hesitation, and ended the call. "If the digimon are truly as faithful as Starkiller said, that means they will try and save their tamers at all costs, even if it means exposing themselves to fire… Then, they will be shot."Smith calculated coldly, as he stared at the map of Japan hung up on the wall.

"You will not be able to hide forever, alien… Sooner or later, you will run out of places to hide…"

He didn't know that his enemies agreed to work together.

* * *

There, done. Next chapter will be ready soon.


	10. Plan

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 10 – Plan.

* * *

Another chapter done. I have a feeling this story will be quite long…

* * *

… The minivan PROXY managed to steal was moving as fast as the speed limit sign allowed. Since it was a country road, it allowed for fast driving, but breaking the speed limit would have attracted unwanted attention. They were driving for more than a half of an hour already, but they didn't meet even one car on their way. It looked too convenient, and suspicious, at least to the driver.

The others were too busy to observe such unnoticeable things. PROXY's master, Starkiller, was busy trying to heal his hands enough so that they could hold a lightsaber. The kids were silent, each overwhelmed with their own worries and concerns, as well as their digimon. What else they should have been doing anyway? Too much has changed in a single day. At the beginning of it they were just a bunch of kids who had some really unusual pets, and at the end of it they became wanted criminals.

The digimon kept quiet also, because each of them felt guilty. Whatever were their intentions on getting a tamer in the first place, would it be friendship or profit, or both, none of them wanted to cause such trouble and wreck their tamers' lives. If they knew a bit more about human psychology, they would have known that the thing any human fears most is the unknown. And that people act differently when they encounter something they fear. Some run away from it. But there are some, who would not run away. They would … KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

"You know, if I only knew how much trouble it would bring, I would have never agreed to be your tamer." Rika broke up the silence with a nasty stab towards her digimon.

"I'm sorry. I never meant it to be like this…" Renamon replied and hid her eyes from that sharp glare her tamer was giving her.

"Hey, it's not her fault and you know it!" both Takato and Henry argued harshly.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Rika hissed back like a snake, and the whole quarrel promised to become a fight, when everyone heard a chilly voice from the front seat:

"Could you kill each other a bit more quietly? You're breaking my concentration." The voice belonged to Starkiller. The fact that he mentioned something about concentration made everyone quickly forget about the quarrel, as they leaned to the front to see what exactly he was doing, curiously.

They didn't understand what they saw. Starkiller had his eyes closed and his face was still like a mask, but what attracted attention was the dim, almost unnoticeable, red glow from his injured hands. It looked weird, and somewhat creepy. The most curious of the trio, Takato, didn't hesitate to pose a question.

"Hey, um… what are you doing?" he asked.

"I am healing myself. I can barely feel several of my fingers, I cannot hold a lightsaber in my hand." Starkiller replied. He sounded incredibly calm, aloof, as if he was not even there.

"So you can do that too?" Henry asked and something that looked like a proud smile appeared on Starkiller's face for a brief moment.

"I can do many things. If you're lucky, you won't find out what else I can do." He replied.

"Why is that?" Henry asked again.

"Most of them are meant to kill people." A grim reply came. For several more they drove in silence. The matter of discussion seemed to be exhausted.

"You have been with us for some time now, and we do not even know your name and all…" Takato said a bit shyly. The question caught Starkiller a bit off guard, however. He could have told that his name is Starkiller, but that was not true. That was a nickname, and his real name was not used for so long he almost managed to forget it.

"… Galen. Galen Marek." He said after much hesitation, when he finally managed to remember it.

"What, was it so difficult to remember?" Rika asked sarcastically.

"… It was not used for some time now." Starkiller aka Galen Marek replied simply, as if the subject was not important to him.

"So you don't mind if we'll call you Galen then, right?" Henry asked a question which had an obvious answer.

"Not at all." Starkiller replied.

"Enough with personal introductions. Are we forgetting what situation we are in? So, Mr. Expert, what would be the plan?" Rika continued on with her sarcasm and irony. She disliked her new allies, but was smart enough to understand that she and her digimon won't do well on their own.

"We must find their bases, hunt down their troops. Dig for information. We must find a way to kill their supreme leader, whoever that is. I have a hunch that without him the organization would be in disarray." Starkiller replied with a rather monotonous intonation, as if he was reading a passage from a boring book.

"Right. And how exactly are we going to do that?" Rika continued to ask.

"You worked for them for some time. Don't you know where could their bases be hidden?" Henry proposed, but Galen only shook his head in disagreement.

"I know where two of their outposts are situated. But the first one is empty for sure, and the other would be clearly a trap. They are not stupid, they know that I know the location of those ones, they won't let it become a prey." He replied.

"What happened to the first one?" Takato asked.

"My master and I attacked it, killed almost everyone and wrecked a lot of valuable equipment. It would not be worth the effort of restoring it." The droid, who was driving the car, suddenly entered the discussion.

"Wait, let me get this straight again. 1 robot plus 1 human versus an entire base. So … you killed everyone?" Henry asked with suspicion and disbelief.

"Henry, don't forget who are we dealing with. An assassin robot who can shrug off fireballs and a guy who can deflect shots with a sword, beat up SOMEONE without using his hands, and survive a direct missile hit." Terriermon interjected, with a stab towards Renamon's attitude again, yet she demonstratively ignored it.

"Point taken." Henry replied.

"How are we going to find someone who is always in hiding?" Guilmon asked a question, and it was a good one too.

"They will have to come to us, then." PROXY replied from the front.

"How they are going to find us if they don't know where we are?" Terriermon asked.

"They know where YOU are. A tracer program was attached to one of your digimon when it first appeared in this world. So they can follow your movements, but we have the advantage, because they don't know that we know they're coming, and they don't know that we work together." Starkiller explained wearily.

"What made you think they don't know you're with us?" Rika asked.

"Because a mere idea of two "aliens" working with a bunch of children and digimon for a common goal is preposterous. That is part of the reason I agreed to team up with you. And the fact that we know they're coming would allow US to chose the place where we would confront them, thus, leading them into a trap. That's the whole plan – they keep coming – we keep killing." An explanation came. The plan was perfectly simple, but it lacked something. Any plan is supposed to lead to something, with a goal in the end – a complete victory. This one didn't, or so it seemed.

"Do you really think they will run out of troops to throw at us?" Renamon asked doubtingly.

"When a soldier isn't on a mission, he has to stay somewhere, right? We take a prisoner, and we get answers out of him." The droid explained, saving his master the trouble of answering something that obvious.

"Wouldn't the enemy evacuate the base of operations when they found out their fire squads were incapacitated by us?" Renamon posed another question, and she had a good point too.

"We will just have to hope they won't be able to do that in time." Starkiller replied, while being in a healing trance. The pain started to go away, and he regained some control over his charred fingers, but that was not enough.

"So we leave almost everything to a chance? Hnh. Figures" Renamon said with a bit of contempt.

"You have a better plan? Let's hear it then." Starkiller replied in the same tone. The question got Renamon off-guard, she didn't have an answer for that.

"No, I do not have another plan. I would not place my life in your hands, however." She replied. It was not her fault. Renamon didn't trust anyone easily, especially someone who was a mortal enemy just a few hours earlier.

"I could say the same about you. That makes us even. Unfortunately, if any of us has a fighting chance of survival, we have to stick together, right?" Starkiller replied in the same intonation and they both exchanged a couple of "incredibly friendly" glares.

"You could settle your differences later, master. I have spotted a roadblock up ahead. And some troops." Droid's worried voice distracted everyone from discussing issues of trust and friendship.

"Then what are you waiting for? Turn the car around before they have spotted us!!" Rika shouted.

"Wait, do you see any white eye badges on them?" Starkiller asked. The droid only shook his head.

"No, and these seem to have different uniforms as well." He replied.

"Drive forward." Starkiller replied shortly. Everyone in the car gazed at him with amazement for a moment.

"Drive forward?! What are you, nuts? They'll blast us to smithereens if we approach them!" both the kids and the digimon exclaimed at the same time.

"Turning around won't do us any good right now. It's pretty obvious they've got the area surrounded. Trust me. We shall come to no harm." Starkiller's voice sounded unusually calm and confident, so confident that it has passed to the others as well.

"Alright, but you better be sure about this. Everyone get down! We're approaching." Henry said and he and the others ducked and hid behind the chairs, as the car approached the outpost. As soon as they did a police officer approached it.

"Officer Reijiro Tonaka, Tokyo central police department. Please, show me your documents." The officer asked rather politely.

"Oh man, we're screwed." Rika thought, while hiding, and the droid turned his head to his master. This was a sign.

"You have already seen our documents." Starkiller said with a calm, soothing voice. "What the hell is he doing? Now we're screwed for sure." Everyone except the droid thought, waiting for a violent reaction, but for some reason it didn't come. The police officer just stared at them with a blank stare, and said with an aloof voice:

"I have already seen your documents." The reply stunned everyone in the group, and rendered them speechless.

"We are free to continue our trip." Starkiller continued in his hypnotizing tone.

"You are free to continue your trip." The cop mindlessly repeated.

"While you're at it, master, make him forget that he ever saw us." PROXY proposed, and Starkiller nodded.

"And you will forget that you ever saw us." He continued.

"And I will forget that I ever saw you." The cop replied like a zombie, and allowed the mini-van to pass through the blockade…

… When they were on a safe distance away from the police cordons, everyone jumped the sith with questions, but the most important one was:

"How the hell did you do that?" everyone asked.

"Mind trick. It works best against weak-minded." Starkiller replied with a bit of pride in his voice.

"You can control minds of others. How can we know you're not controlling us as well?" Rika asked suspiciously.

"Depends. Do you consider yourself weak-minded?" Starkiller replied with fake curiosity, causing everyone besides Rika to snicker.

"Amazing how many things you can do. You're like … like … a magician!" Takato exclaimed.

"Great. We have a wizard, we only have to find an elf, a dwarf and a dragon and might as well start playing Dungeons & Dragons…" Rika grumped when suddenly she stopped her eyes on the digimon: the tall one, the short one, and the dragon Guilmon. After that she stared at Renamon for a couple of seconds, making her uneasy.

"Is something wrong?" Renamon inquired politely.

"You just had to have pointy ears, didn't you?"

Everyone on the back seats laughed, and the tension of the situation seemed to disappear. "That's right. Laugh. Do whatever you need, if it helps you pass whatever awaits us in the future. Poor kids, I almost feel sorry for them…" Starkiller thought and focused on his burns one more time. PROXY was concentrated on driving the vehicle…

…"The digimon managed to pass through the surrounded area… And yet undetected… Hmm… They are more capable than I thought… And there are still no reports about the aliens leaving the area… If they are still there… I just hope the squads I sent after the digimon will succeed in their mission… Otherwise, I might be running out of options. Ugh, I hate to plan anything without having access to all info on the target. It's like playing chess, without being able to see the opponent or the pieces. It is not a fair game, an equitable game…" Smith's thoughts were moving slowly in his head. He spent all day thinking up a way to take down someone who is practically immune to any kind of weapon without sacrificing thousands of his men. His efforts proved in vane so far. He pushed a button to activate a view screen and asked to be put through with Hypnos. After a few seconds he was connected and a link was established.

"Yes, what do you want?" Yamaki asked, being a bit irritated.

"You better deliver me some good news about your latest program designed to fight digimon that managed to sneak into our world. I'm in a very bad mood to hear about failures…"

* * *

Sorry it took so long, I was busy. And yes, none of the Force techniques used by Starkiller are invented by me. With the Force it is possible to do pretty much anything.


	11. Hunter or hunted?

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 11 – Hunter … or hunted?

* * *

There, done.

* * *

… "The targets are coming this way and will reach this location in ten minutes, sir." A raspy voice filled with static was heard in the squad commander's helmet. He and his squad were setting up an ambush along the road. From the speed their targets were travelling along the radar the soldiers figured that their targets were using some sort of a vehicle as means of transportation. This actually was an advantage for them, because cars are vulnerable targets, susceptible to almost anything.

Caltrops were placed all over the section of the road to puncture the tires and make the vehicle lose control. Covert gun positions we set up along the perimeter to strike fast, accurately, and, most importantly, without being spotted. They even brought up a few rocket launchers just to be on the safe side. The troops were related to every last drop of information the Black Watch managed to gather about their illusive enemies.

The primary thread that the enemies posed was not even their superior firepower, but the ability to literally stop any projectile launched at them. Any attack against that type of shield would be rendered useless. But, fortunately for that squad of troopers, they were armed with … special weapons.

"Good. Get to your posts, men. And make sure they would not be able to spot you! If we're being seen before the trap is sprung – we're dead." The commanding officer replied.

"Roger."

"Roger."

"Roger."

"Will do." He heard a volley of similar raspy static-filled voices through his commlink. Then he looked at his troops again. The uniform robbed them of any shred of personality, making them look very well trained, very dangerous, but, most importantly, expendable. Anonymity was one of the traits required to get the job done, even if most of the times it was very unpleasant. A job they had to do against their will, and against their sense. This trait was shared by everyone, starting from simple grunt soldier to the leader of an entire branch. The records were sealed, and service only ended in death...

… It was early in the morning. The droid was driving the car, immune to tiredness. The children fell asleep. They were exhausted from the previous day, and needed some rest. Guilmon and Terriermon were also sleeping, while Renamon kept an eye on the driver and on where they were going. Starkiller never moved from his meditating pose ever since they escaped the surrounded area.

"Excuse me, miss, what seems to be the problem? You haven't removed your eyes from me for 3 hours 24 minutes and 57.3 seconds. If I were a human, I would have considered it rather rude." The droid suddenly posed a question to the yellow digimon sitting behind him. The question was unexpected by Renamon, so it took her several seconds to compose a reply. However, Starkiller answered for her.

"Obviously she's watching us for some sort of treachery. Apparently she doesn't see how impractical that claim could be, so, instead of conserving and restoring her strength, like the others, she spends it on watching us. Very 'smart' indeed." Starkiller replied with a dry tone, and a bit of mockery in his voice. Renamon didn't like being mocked like that. And usually giving a death glare to someone who was ticking her off was enough. Not this time though.

"Do not try to scare me. Even my droid is more than capable of standing up against you. You could stay alert and cautious, if it would bring you any peace, but I can tell you you're wasting your time." Starkiller replied dryly calm again.

"What do you mean by "even my droid", master? Do you doubt my combat abilities and assassination protocols of highest quality?" the droid sounded offended.

"No, sorry PROXY, I never meant to offend you." Starkiller replied and the three people awake silenced for some time…

… Everything returned to tranquility for a moment. That unfriendly chatter didn't wake anyone. It was peaceful, but it couldn't last. There was something in the air… Something cold, aggressive and evil. Even normal people could have sensed it. For a Force-user though it was much clearer. Not like "I have a bad feeling about this", but a flashing warning sign. Suddenly, Starkiller opened his eyes and ordered:

"Stop the car. Now." The droid complied with the request, but was curious enough as to why his master ordered it.

"Is something wrong, master?" he asked politely.

"Yes, I can feel a hostile presence, not too far away from here. It is an ambush. They're waiting for us." Starkiller replied and turned around.

"Wake up your friends." He tossed to Renamon as he opened the door and got out of the car. It was not long until everyone else was wake up and out of the car as well. They were confused as to why they were waked up in such a hurry.

"Agh, what's the matter? Why have you woke us up?" everyone asked.

"Our enemies are nearby. I have sensed their hostile intentions. I believe they are somewhere over that small hill…"Starkiller explained.

"Oh, your magic tricks again, right?" Rika asked suspiciously. Although she already saw that "magic" in action, she still was not a big believer in it, considering it unreliable.

"Right. We must scout ahead before we attack." Starkiller went right to the point.

"Wait wait wait. Attack? Wouldn't it be easier to avoid the ambush if we know it is there?" Henry asked with amazement.

"The best defense is a good old offence. We must inflict casualties on the enemy forces any time we have a chance. So who's going to scout ahead?" Starkiller asked again.

"I will go. They will not spot me." Renamon volunteered for duty. She had a point, her prowess in stealth was unquestionable, or so it seemed.

"With all due respect, master, I believe I would be more suited for the task." Suddenly the droid interjected. Everyone looked at him with a judging glare.

"I don't think so. My Renamon is clearly more capable in these matters. She can teleport from place to place, and move so fast it's almost impossible to see her. What can you do to top that?" Rika asked incredulously. If anything, she knew everything, or almost everything about her digimon's capabilities, and was pretty certain a mere robot cannot beat her in terms of stealth. She knew nothing of the droid's capabilities, however, and PROXY had something to offer.

"I have a built-in cloaking device that can render me invisible to both naked eyes, and various sorts of scanners. I also have a sound-dampening unit that makes my moves impossible to hear. Allow me to demonstrate…" the droid said and activated something, and then, suddenly, in a blink of an eye, he just … disappeared. Everyone aside from Starkiller looked at the place where the droid was just standing with amazement written on their faces. Takato approached the place and swung his hand a few times, but it didn't meet any obstacle. The droid was not there.

"Ok, wow. Just … wow." He said and made a few steps back.

"Renamon, do you see the assassin droid?" Rika asked in a demanding tone, she was expecting her digimon to see through such tricky devises.

"No, I do not. And I do not hear him either." Renamon replied. She was also puzzled and was pointlessly trying to spot the droid. Suddenly, she and her tamer heard a voice from behind:

"I'm right behind you." It made them turn around to face the droid, who already deactivated both the cloaking devise and the sound-damper.

"As you can clearly see, I am more than capable of carrying out missions relying on stealth." PROXY said with a bit of pride in his voice. Remarkably lifelike for a droid, if I may add.

"We're wasting time here. You both should go. To cover each other in case of trouble." Henry proposed a compromise.

"Sounds reasonable."

"Very well." Both Renamon and PROXY replied, and without further delay went to complete their mission. The others had to wait for their return…

… The squad commander was analyzing the information coming from the nearest relay center, which was transmitting to them the location of the tracker-locked digimon – their only lead. He found it strange that the target suddenly stopped moving. It was raising suspicions.

"Hmm… I don't like this. The tracker stopped moving… Why? Maybe they know we're setting up an ambush here?" he asked himself loudly enough.

"Nonsense, chief. If they would have discovered it, they would have turned around and retreated as fast as they could. Maybe they're having engine trouble or something…" the voice of his attendant was heard through the commlink. A skilled soldier, but also a little careless. And a good friend.

"Maybe you're right, but I don't want to leave anything to chance. Do we have a visual on them yet?" the commander asked.

"No, sir. They must still be on the other side of that hill." The attendant replied.

"I cannot wait forever to find out what they're up to. Grab a scope and covertly approach their current position. You're going to be our eyes." The commander ordered.

"Roger that, chief." His underling replied, and from under a bush an unnoticeable shadowy figure moved towards its destination…

… Renamon was moving fast, teleporting from cover to cover without attracting notice. She didn't know where the droid went ever since he activated his "invisibility cloak" and for that matter, she didn't care. All she cared about was the objective. It took her long enough to find the hidden enemies. Renamon gave them credit – they were hard to find even with her superior senses, and she would have never spotted them if she wouldn't have known what she is looking for.

"So the assassin was right, there really is an ambush here… And judging by the quality of it, those are not simple soldiers either…" she thought as she creeped around, observing, and memorizing everything she saw. After thorough searching she counted more than a dozen soldiers, and two heavy gun emplacements, which also were incredibly well hidden. Double-checking what she saw, and finding that she didn't miss anything important, Renamon decided to return to the others and report of her success.

It was then, when she suddenly saw a strange silhouette skulking in the shadows and swiftly moving between trees, hiding in the bushes. The silhouette was going up the cliff. "It cannot be the robot, he wouldn't have turned his stealth unit off on the way back… It must be an enemy scout." Renamon concluded, and decided to follow the enemy spy…

… The attendant was moving towards his destination. He knew what he was doing – he was trained for such things, to be unnoticeable, and yet to see everything. He carried a scoped rifle on his back – to see the enemy through his scope, and, if given orders, to shoot some… But for some reason he was not able to shake a feeling that he was being followed. Call it a gut feeling, if you will. Several times he turned around, only to see nothing behind him.

"Damn, I must be seeing things…" he muttered after he turned around for the 5th time. He lied down and got the group below in his scope. "There you are…" he thought and activated his commlink.

"Chief, it's me. I see them…"…

… The scout's gut feeling was not deceiving him. There was at least one person pursuing him all the time. Renamon was trying to get closer, but constant alertness the target was showing kept her at a distance. She had in mind to eliminate the pesky spy, but was waiting for a better chance. And finally, she got one. When the sniper was lying on the ground, too focused observe anything behind him, Renamon thought it was time to make her move. But, before she even had a chance to approach the victim, suddenly, she was grabbed by her hand and dragged back to cover.

Renamon didn't understand who got a hold on her for a moment. She felt cold metallic fingers around her hand but didn't see anyone. It was a matter of seconds for her to figure out who prevented her from a kill.

"Why did you stop me, droid?" she hissed angrily.

"The target has a radio conversation right now. If you had killed him back then, you would have alerted his comrades." She heard a very quiet, almost inaudible voice. PROXY was keeping the volume to a minimum…

… "Chief, I have a clear visual on the targets."

"What are they doing?"

"Err… Nothing. They just sit there. They don't seem to be fixing their vehicle either. Strange…"

"Indeed. Inform us if they'll start moving or anything. I'll check on you every 5 minutes. Over." The commander ended. His bad feeling was getting stronger. He already ordered everyone to be on extremely high alert, but that didn't make the feeling go away…

… "The target's conversation ended. Now it is time." The droid stated. Renamon only nodded and disappeared out of his sight. A moment later a rasp snap was heard. She broke the poor fellow's neck. The droid went out of cover, not that he needed it anyway, and switched his cloaking devise off. There was no one else watching him, and cloaking devise consumed power.

"I do not like doing this…" she said grimly.

"Still, very well done." He stated as he picked up the sniper rifle and slung it over his shoulder, after that he took the mask off the dead body.

"What do you need the mask for?" Renamon inquired.

"If the enemy decides to contact his spy through a commlink, I will mimic voice to deceive them that their agent is still alive." The droid explained, as they both returned to the rest of their group…

… "Have you found anything?" Starkiller asked a direct question as soon as the scouting group arrived.

"You were right. There is a trap. We killed a scout who was spying on you from atop of that cliff" Renamon replied promptly.

"Excellent. I trust they didn't found out about this." Starkiller asked again.

"They didn't, master. The target didn't send out a distress call." PROXY reassured him. Then, the droid kneeled and drew with his metallic finger a schematic picture on the ground, with the positions of troops and gun emplacements.

"Master, my preliminary tactical analysis indicates that the two gun emplacements here and here are most vulnerable for a covert assault. There are two people manning each weapon, and they are placed on higher ground, which makes it impossible to be observed by the troopers below." The droid proposed.

"Indeed. If we could capture those, the infantry below would be helpless against us." Starkiller confirmed. It sounded like a plan, at least.

"We will split up. PROXY, you'll go with Renamon again, you two were doing pretty well so far. And I will go… alright, I guess I'll have to go with you." Starkiller sounded a bit disappointed as he looked upon Terriermon.

"Hey! Don't be so picky! I can do stuff!" the green digimon sounded hilariously offended.

"Can I go too?" Guilmon asked with his growling voice, he really wanted to help, but Starkiller disagreed.

"No, you must stay here. I didn't mention it before, but you're the one with the tracker. If I take you with us, we risk failing the entire operation." He explained.

"What about us?" the kids asked simultaneously.

"You should stay here as well, or better yet, hide somewhere. You cannot help us in any way here. Alright, let's go people. We don't have time to lose." Starkiller said and picked up Terriermon from the ground. Then they went, leaving Guilmon and the kids alone.

"Aww, I wanted to help too…" Guilmon moaned in disappointment. Takato approached him and patted him on the head.

"It's alright, boy. I'm actually glad you stayed behind. I don't want you to kill people…" he said as he watched the two squads slowly disappear out of sight…

…Two squads were slowly sneaking towards the enemy's positions. As droid predicted, every once in a while the enemy commander tried to contact his agent, and with PROXY's wondrous voice mimics they were able to fool him into staying at their current position. Soon, both squads approached their targets…

"There are two of them. We must take them both down at the same moment, or one of them might sound the alarm. I'll come closer, and you wait for my signal." The droid said with a very quiet voice. Renamon nodded in agreement, and the droid made his move towards the unsuspecting soldiers. Soon, one of the soldiers received a strike under the 7th spinal cord with a retractable vibro-blade. The other soldier looked at his companion with horror and amazement, but before he could do anything, his neck was snapped at the hands of the yellow digimon. The droid took form and shape of one of the soldiers, and manned the machine gun.

"We should wait for my master's signal now…" he said, aiming at the enemy troops below…

… Meanwhile on the other side, Starkiller and Terriermon were preparing to do the same thing. Well, actually, it was only Starkiller, he needed Terriermon with him for a different reason. He used the Force to put both guards in some sort of a stasis, and, while they were technically incapacitated, crawled to them and killed them silently with his vibro-knife. Terriermon, who watched the whole scene, swallowed.

"Jeez, you're one stone-cold killer." He sounded a bit frightened.

"Whatever. Can you man this gun?" Starkiller asked.

"Hey, I may look little and useless, but I know a thing or two about guns. Don't worry." Terriermon reassured him.

"Alright, then. Wait for my signal. You will fire in three, two, one…"

… The machine guns started spewing fire almost simultaneously. Such a turn of events was a complete surprise for the unsuspecting soldiers below, as their own gun emplacements started mowing them down. Half of the special squad was killed in a matter of 30 seconds. There were few attempts of firing back, but they were unsuccessful. If such a situation would have hit regular rank-n-file troop regiment, chaos and panic would have been inevitable. But the Black watch trained their soldiers to be far more disciplined.

The long-range radio was destroyed in the firefight. There was no way of informing HQ or request for help. Understanding that it is useless to resist at such inconvenient firing positions, the commander ordered the remains of his squad to retreat. All who were not within direct fire range of those two terrible machine guns complied and started to abandon positions. Their maneuver was seen by Starkiller.

"I cannot allow any of them to escape…" he muttered as he left his cover and ran to pursue the retreating soldiers. Even though he didn't activate his lightsaber yet, he was quickly spotted.

"There he is! Shoot him!" the commander ordered as his five remaining men aimed their rifles.

Starkiller expected a bullet barrage, and was prepared to stop them with a Force barrier. To his great surprise, the enemy soldiers' rifles suddenly started to fire … friggin' lasers! In an effort to improve his troops' chances of standing against a Sith, Smith gave them the newest prototype laser rifles. He didn't know that in the Galaxy where Starkiller was from the most basic Jedi/Sith exercise was at deflecting various energy-based projectiles with lightsabers.

Starkiller managed to act and started to deflect the incoming shots in a wild fire dance, deflecting some of the shots at the attackers. The performance was as beautiful as was it scary, and several attackers were already lying dead, burned by their own shots. But Starkiller's finger injury finally kicked in. It was difficult to control the lightsaber with fingers you can barely feel, so one of the shots managed to get through his defense and hit him in the leg.

"Argh! You're DEAD!" he screamed in pain and unleashed a Force lightning upon the remaining soldiers, killing them almost instantly, frying them alive. From afar it looked like a god of lightning gone mad and unleashed his fury upon poor unsuspecting souls.

"Holy crap… I knew the guy was strong, but I had no idea…" Terriermon thought with horror as he watched it…

… It was finally over. Nobody escaped. Every last one of them was struck down. There were bodies everywhere. Just like Starkiller was taught – fight brutally, efficiently, and leave no witnesses. Unfortunately for him, he was wounded once more. The pain in the leg was crippling, and he had trouble standing up from the ground.

"Master! Master! Are you alright, master?" the droid appeared before him almost immediately. He sounded very concerned.

"Yes, I was just shot in the leg. OF COURCE I'M ALRIGHT! Help me get up." Starkiller moaned as he got up, relying on his droid's shoulder. Terriermon and Renamon came over as well.

"Pile up the dead bodies, search for survivors… Ugh!" Starkiller moaned from the pain in the leg.

"Do not worry, master. The pain will pass…" the droid said caringly as he injected several painkillers. He always brought a med-kit, just in case.

"A sith is not supposed to feel pain." Starkiller mirrored his own master's voice. PROXY ignored his master's senseless words and administered another dose of painkillers. Meanwhile Renamon and Terriermon were searching for anyone who could have survived the massacre. After putting a finger to the neck of one of the soldiers, she felt the pulse. A weak one, but it was there.

"I found someone alive here!" …

… The commander finally opened his eyes. He was still very very dizzy, and it was hard for him to remember what happened. He remembered the moment when his own machineguns fired at his men, he remembered him retreating, his men firing at the monster with the red lightsaber running at them, and then … argh the pain!!!

He felt his skin was burning, but that was not nearly the pain he should have felt. More than 45% of his skin was burned by the Force lightning jolt through his body, and the only reason he was still conscious was because of Starkiller's Force-wielding efforts and PROXY's medications. They expected him to survive long enough to give them the answers they were seeking.

The poor soldier saw a terrible sight. Next to him there were his soldiers' bodies piled up. The troops he cared about, the troops who were his responsibility. All dead. The commander understood that he failed in his mission. It was not his soldiers' failure, it was his failure. His and only his.

"Finally you're awake. I was beginning to wonder if all this was worth it." He heard an unpleasant voice. After that the commander found out that he was actually tied up. He looked around. And what horrified him was that he saw children among his enemies. He recognized them, those children were among the target list, but he never expected them to witness his own torture.

"Why … are the kids here? They too want to see me … suffer?" he asked and spitted blood. Starkiller approached him and grabbed him by the collar.

"They should enjoy this, considering you were tasked to kill them. But if you tell us what we want to know, your death will be quick and painless. Where is your base of operations?" Starkiller asked threateningly.

"You won't get anything out of me…" the commander replied and gave his torturers a look of a hunted down beast.

"I know many ways how to cook the skin from one's bones and still keep him alive. Tell us what we want to know!" Starkiller almost screamed. The commander only gave him a sickening smile.

"You won't get anything out of me…" he whispered, as his eyes were rolling behind and foam appeared from his mouth. In a matter of seconds, he was dead. Takato closed Guilmon's eyes with his hand, Terriermon sighed, and Renamon closed her own eyes and took a deep breath.

"I know he wanted to kill us… But that's just horrible…" Henry whispered.

"Even worst enemies don't deserve this."Takato added. Rika didn't say anything, Rika didn't say anything, but her eyes looked like they were made of glass.

"What did you do to him, master?" the droid asked.

"It was not me…" Starkiller replied as he opened the dead commander's jaw. Where, among the teeth, he saw and ampoule of blue color, and remains of a blue liquid in it.

"Damn, a poison pill. I forgot some agents have those implanted in their teeth to commit suicide if captured. I should have foreseen this… Curses!" Starkiller swore and kicked the body with his foot. After he was done, the droid carried the body to the rest of his squad. Starkiller approached the red dinosaur. Guilmon shivered at his approach.

"Burn the bodies."

* * *

There, done. Hope you like it dark.


	12. Stalemate

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 12 – Stalemate.

* * *

Another chapter ready. I am sorry I could not do these more often, but I am busy.

* * *

…The group was on a break from riding in the car all day. For about two days after their encounter with the enemy troops they didn't meet any type of threads whatsoever. It was strange, very strange. Everyone expected the enemy to be enraged after what they have done to his task force, and expected him to swarm them with troops. That didn't happen, so they decided to relax for a while.

Besides all that, they needed supplies. Maybe digimon didn't have to eat, and Starkiller could sustain himself with the Force, but the children weren't so resistant to hunger. So, when the night has fallen upon Japan, they sent Renamon on a noble mission of raiding a market. She was an obvious choice, because a nearest settlement was several kilometers away, and Renamon was qualified as the fastest runner.

It was dark. The only source of light was the fire they started, luckily they had the perfect matchstick a.k.a the lightsaber to start it. Starkiller was sitting a bit away from the others, taking care of his burns with what little remained of the medicaments PROXY had. The droid was patrolling, armed with one of the laser guns he picked up after the fight with the enemy squad. He noted that these guns were quite efficient. Or maybe he just had a passion for guns, that's why he collected every last one and stashed them in the back of the truck.

While meditating with closed eyes, Starkiller suddenly heard some noise, as if someone was approaching him. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Takato. He looked like he needed something.

"Um… Hi there, Galen." He said sheepishly, not sure how to start a conversation.

"What do you want from me?" Marek asked monotonously, without drawing his attention from his work. Burned arms are one thing, but he definitely could not allow himself limping.

"Err… Can I ask you something?" Takato inquired, being careful not to offend the fearsome assassin in any way. But his precautions made Starkiller annoyed.

"Unless you want me kill someone, you really should go bother someone else." He sighed wearily.

"Hey, don't get spiky, I just want to know you better, that's all…" Takato said and stopped, when Starkiller pinned him down with a piercing glare.

"What would you need this information for?" he inquired suspiciously. Takato's eyes widened a bit as his face expressed sincere amazement.

"You know… it's just that you come from a whole different galaxy and all… Here on Earth we only get slight hints of civilizations existing on other planets…" Takato replied a bit hesitantly, walking around the subject. Starkiller caught his drift though.

"You want to know about the galaxy I come from, don't you? Very well, I'll satisfy your curiosity a bit. What do you want to know?" He asked calmly. Takato smiled upon hearing a positive answer. The other two kids and their digimon moved closer so that they could hear the story.

"Tell me about your homeworld." Takato asked with his eyes gleaming with excitement. But to his disappointment Starkiller only shook his head, and said:

"I remember little about my homeworld. My father and I traveled from planet to planet, running away. All I remember that the last world we stopped on had a lot of trees…"

"Running away? Who were you running away from?" Takato asked.

"The Sith." Starkiller replied monotonously. All his three listeners blinked in amazement. They didn't understand.

"Wait a second. But you're with the Sith, aren't you? You said so several times before. How come you were running away from them in the first place?" Henry asked as he approached and sat near Takato. Rika followed and did the same.

"It was because my father was a Jedi." Starkiller replied shortly. The three kids were puzzled again, not being familiar with the new term.

"What's a Jedi?" they asked simultaneously.

"Polar opposite of the Sith. They use the Force to help others. And they are sworn enemies of the Sith, who use the Force to acquire power over others…" he said, when suddenly, out of thin air, Renamon appeared and approached the group. In her hands she had a rather large red sack.

"Well, if it isn't Santa Claus." Terriermon teased her as she approached, but was left completely ignored. She threw the sack onto the ground. Inside there were various food supplies, starting from bread and ending with chocolate bars.

"I didn't trigger the alarm. These will be enough for a week, I think…" she commented, as the kids and two less patient digimon already were digging in the sack.

"Gee, thanks, Renamon!" Takato said cheerfully while chewing onto a chocolate bar. Renamon didn't even bother to say "you're welcome, but instead approached Starkiller and tossing him a plastic box with a red cross on it. Starkiller figured out what it was.

"I don't remember asking you for bringing me this…" he replied a bit confused.

"You didn't. Your droid asked." She replied uncaringly.

"He did?" Starkiller replied doubtingly, and suddenly heard his droid's static-filled voice:

"Yes I did, master. As you may have noticed, our own supply of medicaments was rendered low, and we're almost out of painkillers and bandages. Oh, and thank you for doing as I asked, Renamon." The droid said to her with gratitude in his voice.

"Whatever." She replied and leaned to a tree which was next to where the children were sitting.

"So… what happened on that tree planet? You didn't say." Takato asked, redirecting his attention from a chocolate bar.

"I met my master." – Starkiller answered simply.

"Your … master?" Henry asked with amazement. To him it was not very believable that such a strong, powerful being could be a slave. But he understood it wrong, partially at least.

"Yes. He took me away when I was very young, and trained me to become his assassin. My allegiance belongs to him." Starkiller explained.

"How does your master look like?" Takato asked cautiously.

"I suppose there won't be much harm in showing you. PROXY, show us the recording of my latest mission." Starkiller ordered his droid, and for the first time everyone saw him not complying with his master's orders so willingly.

"Is it really necessary, master?" the droid plead, hoping his master would reconsider.

"Are you defying my orders, PROXY?" Starkiller asked with a bit of suspicion and mistrust. That was the tone PROXY was afraid the most, if you could call it being afraid, since droid were programmed not to show cowardice.

"No, master. I will do as you command. Holo-file №428 found. Complying with request… Initializing image… Initiating playback …" he stated as his image was becoming darker, becoming pitch-black. Everybody looked at the transformation with fear and amazement at the same time. Slowly, a powerful, very tall figure, incased in black armor, with a horrible-looking gasmask-like helmet covering the face, arose before them. Guilmon and Terriermon made a few steps back, being overwhelmed by the power this sinister-looking monster was emanating. "Even if a mere imitation has power to instill fright into people, I can't imagine what it would be like to meet one in person…" Renamon thought, while observing the holographic imitation of the dark lord.

"Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith." Starkiller sighed out an explanation.

"There is a disturbance … in the Force. It must be … silenced. The coordinates are transferred to your navycomputer as we speak. I do not need to remind you the price of failure." The sinister figure said with a maliciously-sounding low voice, very powerful, yet so machine – like and monotonous. Everyone shivered when they heard it, and after that the holographic image broke up, and PROXY once again showed himself.

The droid, however, was looking very dizzy, if such a word could be used to a droid. He barely stood on his feet and would have fallen to the ground if Starkiller wouldn't have caught him.

"Please, master, don't subjugate me to showing lord Vader any time soon. It places an incredible amount of stress on my behavior core. I would prefer not to show this image without extreme necessity." The droid plead again with a bit weakened voice. Several moments after that his apparent weakness disappeared and he returned to his casual battle-ready state.

"And what exactly is the punishment for failure?" Renamon asked. Starkiller gave her a heavy glare, and replied monotonously:

"Death."

The subject was over.

But, as we all know, coincidences don't happen. And there was a reason why the group didn't meet any more ambushes, and cops, and soldiers on their way. The reason was because in the darkened office of executive Smith a rather heated discussion took place due to Smith's latest failure.

"Perfect, just perfect. Another day, another failure, Smith. You're getting sloppy. I'm having in mind to call you off this mission and return control to Yamaki. Maybe he didn't do anything useful, but at least he didn't bring any shame upon our head!" the chairman was not pleased with the results.

"Many good soldiers were killed, and still these renegade digimon are on the loose, and you don't even know the aliens' location!" he kept yelling, but Smith was stoic towards the accusations.

"With all due respect, chairman, the defeat of my best troops was neither their failure nor mine. I was very surprised myself when they suddenly vanished from our scanners. I thought that those digimon weren't powerful enough to defeat them, and suspected some kind of treachery. You're not going to believe what our spy satellite discovered from orbit. Let me put it on screen…" Smith replied and pressed several buttons, and an image appeared before chairman's eyes.

"I cannot believe it… That means that…" he muttered.

"That our enemies united against us. And apparently these aliens caused the defeat of our fire teams." Smith finished the sentence for him.

"If you know of their location, why didn't you do anything?!" the chairman demanded the answer.

"Because, chairman, if we swarm them with troops, we would have incredibly high casualties. I must remind you that 20 of our best men were not able to take down at least one of them. We do not have as many expendable rank-and-file units to take down these targets and I would not be sending my men into slaughter without a slightest chance of success!" Smith was beginning to lose his patience.

"What do you suggest we do then?" chairman asked with a devious intonation.

"We wait for now. This "alliance" was forged out of desperation in a hope to stand against us. They are in disadvantage, because they do not know where we are, and we can strike at any moment we desire. I believe that without us showing around their alliance will collapse, and we would take them out separately. We might as well use this time to come up with weapons that will double our troops' chances of defeating them." Smith replied in the same intonation. A cunning smile appeared at the chairman's face.

"You have another plane, don't you?" he asked. Smith nodded and replied:

"While studying the wreckage my scientists have discovered vast data files in one of the ship's computers. They began to decipher it, and by what progress they've done so far I can concur that this the most find of all."

"What data does it have exactly?" the chairman asked curiously, obviously interested in the subject.

"Starting from stellar cartography and ending with weapon information and classifications, but, most importantly, it contains knowledge about the aliens, their strengths and their weaknesses. Once the archives are fully deciphered, we would be able to plan our assault more efficiently, but for now I request patience." Smith asked. The chairman thought for a few seconds, and replied:

"Very well, we'll do it your way, for now. And it better not fail, too. Otherwise, we risk getting the military involved. And if that happens, the whole conspiracy will be revealed, and … the current government risks losing the next elections. You know what it means."

"I do. Good bye, chairman." Smith replied and ended the call. There was someone else requesting an audience for ten minutes already. Smith pressed another button, and a familiar face appeared on the screen.

"What is it, Yamaki?" he asked wearily.

"Our facility located several more digimon appearing in the town. We were not able to destroy them when they appeared, but we keep trackers on them. They must be destroyed before they wreak havoc." Yamaki reported.

"I will send heavy fire squads to intercept them. Yamaki, is there anything else I should know?" Smith asked suspiciously.

"Um, yes. These new - spawns appear to be more dangerous. They didn't just ignore Yuggoth program, they destroyed it! Smith, proceed with caution. I have never before seen a wild one able to do so…" Yamaki showed concern.

"Thank you for bringing this information to me. This changes everything. I will deal with the matter more cautiously. Transmit the coordinates." He ordered, and finished the matter upon receiving them. When the monitor went blank, he still kept his eyes on it for several minutes. "Sometimes I feel things around me start to collapse. This must not be allowed to happen." He thought and asked to be put through with BW infantry HQ.

"Send all available units to these three quadrants of the city. Destroy any wild ones you will find." He ordered strictly.

"Err… all of them? Wouldn't it be … a bit unsubtle?" the officer who was online asked.

"I don't care. Have the police surround the area. No witnesses must be allowed. Out."

* * *

There, done. There will be more in the future, I promise.


	13. An unexpected ally

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 13 – An unexpected ally.

* * *

Almost a week has passed since the last attack on the renegade group. Smith received orders from higher authorities to concentrate his efforts on keeping the situation stable due to more recent bio-emerges. It must be noted that he and his forces were doing rather poorly. The digimon that were appearing were substantially more powerful than the once they encountered before. These ones were unaffected by any programs Hypnos launched at them, and also were terrifyingly efficient when it came down to fighting the Black Watch.

Hypnos was working non-stop 24 hours per day seven days per week. Smith demanded their latest and most potent weapon against digimon intervention – the Juggernaut , to be finished and ready for use as soon as it was possible. But the project was far from being completed, and the forces defending the city secretly from eyes of the commoners were getting thinner by the day. That was the subject of a video-transmission between Hypnos and Black Watch.

"… You're not doing too well, executive Smith. I heard reports that you already lost around 20 of your soldiers to those beasts, and over 40 are being patched up in the infirmary. You'd better think up something before you run out of troops." Yamaki said a bit mockingly. His animosity to Smith was well known even to his underlings, and he never missed a chance to bite where it hurts. Smith ignored his attempts, however, having more pressing matters at hand.

"Do you actually have an idea or is this childish tantrum in fact an attempt to get on my nerves?" Smith inquired with fake politeness, subtly pointing out that he sees through his pitiful mockeries. Yamaki, however, was able to reply with dignity:

"My job is not to give you ideas, hnh, I merely stated a fact."

"So let us speak about your job in particular. How is the Juggernaut?" Smith promptly changed the subject. Yamaki's reply didn't please him, however.

"Only 74% complete. My men are doing the best they can, but we need more time to complete the programming." He said. Even thought Smith's face was always cloaked by darkness, Yamaki could have figured out that the news he brought was not met very well.

"How much time do you need?" he asked grimly.

"Roughly a month, but after that we must put the machine through tests, and that would take three more weeks." Smith said with a rather concerned intonation. Unseen to him, Smith raised a brow in amazement.

"Tests? What tests?" Smith asked with a bit of doubt in his voice that he didn't hide.

"We must test if the computer works properly, if there are no mistakes made in the programming, and there are always a few that need correcting. Without all the eddies worked out … the consequences might be terrible." Yamaki said and swallowed. Smith noticed his reaction and that sparked his curiosity.

"How terrible are we speaking of?" he asked.

"To a point that it might actually warp other wild ones in instead of destroying them." Yamaki replied hesitantly. An awkward silence was held for a few moments.

"And if you will have the time to double-check your work, can you guarantee that this atrocity may never occur?" Smith's voice never sounded more grimly.

"100%, sir." Yamaki replied firmly. If anything, he knew that he could get the job done and without glitches, given enough time.

"Good. Then, you will have that time." Smith replied monotonously.

"If your soldiers could hold for little longer we…" Yamaki started to say but was interrupted.

"There is no "if" here. When it comes to computers and cybernetic research, you say "Jump!" and I ask "How high?". And I'd rather declare martial law then risk this machine of yours going out of control. Dismissed." Smith ended the conversation in his typical manner and turned off his monitor.

Yamaki sighed heavily. That was exactly why he hated Smith so much, he knew how to take down any illusion of control and remind how bad the situation really was. Over the course of their discussion he never stopped flicking his Zippo lighter, and by the end of it he managed to get it broken, and now struggled to fix it. That was why he never actually noticed that someone was standing behind him for about 5 minutes.

"Um… Sir?" he heard a soft voice from behind. It surprised him a bit.

"Damn you lighter… Huh? Oh, yes, Mrs. Ootori, what is it?" he asked and hid his broken lighter in his pocket.

"It is urgent. A couple of wild ones are moving uncontrollably throughout the town. We receive no signals from fire teams that were supposed to intercept them…" she gibbered with concern, it made Yamaki sigh again. That was what he needed – more bad news.

"They're dead. Great. That was the third squad this week. I still cannot believe it. Smith is the head of such a powerful military organization, and he can't think a better way to deal with the wild ones other than charging them with troops?! His men die like flies. And there is nothing we can do, besides focusing on the Juggernaut." He muttered to himself, without even thanking Reika for bringing him the report. She, however, was not yet done with him.

"I might have an idea of how we can aid in defending our city against the wild ones." She said, and her words froze Yamaki in his tracks. He was thinking about this problem for days now, and didn't come up with anything useful, while his underling had?!

"Speak." He said shortly and turned to her, his hands crossed in front of him. Other workers noticed the commotion and were wondering what would come of it. Reika noticed it:

"Excuse me, sir, may we discuss this away from prying ears?" she asked and Yamaki looked around. Everybody turned away and got back to work, no one wanted to displease their boss. That didn't stop them from listening attentively while staring in the monitors, however.

"I see your point. Follow me…" he said and rapidly walked to his private office, followed by Reika. His office contained only a table, a computer monitor, two chairs and a fire-proof closet for documents. Since the room itself was rather rarely used, it was dusty. Yamaki preferred to spent his time either working or watching his underling do the job right.

"Alright Mrs. Ootori, what is this about?" he asked without even trying to hide his amazement. However what he was about to hear was not going to please him…

"What?! You got to be kidding me! There is no way that would work out." He exclaimed in disbelief.

"Excuse me, sir, but … why not? I remember that before this witch-hunt initiated by Smith started, they were doing a remarkably good job fighting off rouge wild ones. And the aliens also have proved their combat worth. I do not know who this executive Smith is, but he surely made a huge mistake by double-crossing them. Maybe we could persuade them to take care of this mess for us." Reika insisted.

"But this would be dealing with the enemy! It's blasphemy!" Yamaki exclaimed again, still overwhelmed by the sentiment this proposal brought in him. It sounded too risky, too unbelievable to work.

"Correction: they are Black Watch's enemies, not ours. We are two separate branches. Yes, the probability it would actually work is low, but if it will, we might just save a lot of lives, and time." She continued to press on with her wild plan. Not, come to think of it, Yamaki saw it too, but there were many blank points.

"After what Smith did to them, they won't even talk to me. It's impossible." Yamaki still was against the plan, but he didn't ignore it like before, so there was a chance to convince him. And Reika took that chance.

"Yes, I was thinking that much too. I will talk to them." She said. For Yamaki this was completely unexpected.

"You?" he asked and raised his eyebrow in a sign of amazement. "They will kill you before you'll even get a chance to talk." He said.

"That's what they would do to you if you tried. Your G-man impression you tend to give people wouldn't be of much help here anyway." She replied confidently, she even forgot to say "sir" at the end of the sentence. Yamaki shook his head in disagreement.

"It's your skin, Reika. Even if I would send a squad of my defense force troops with you, they would not be able to stop the enemies should things get bloody. I heard they dispatched a unit of elite black-watchers 4 times their size. And I cannot afford to lose my chief system operator." He said with genuine care. The reason why he ever considered the idea was because Reika was his friend, possibly his only friend around, since other workers feared him so much even one glare from under his sinister shades was enough to make them work double time.

"You should not send an escort. If I come alone, that might convince them of our good intentions." Reika replied, and there was some reason behind her words, albeit slight. The whole thing was too risky, was leaving far too much to chance, and, what Yamaki hatred most of all, he was not able to do the entire thing by himself.

"There is no way Smith won't find out. He has eyes and ears everywhere…" Yamaki almost whispered, and looked around cautiously, as if he expected to see someone in the darker corner of the room.

"That's why you will have to convince him in benefits of such actions when the time comes. Tell him that everything is under your control and that you're manipulating or something. He'd like that." Reika said, while gesticulating. Yamaki sighed.

"When you think you can manipulate that bastard, know that you think that way because he manipulated you into doing so…" he said wearily. They both silenced down for a few moments, thinking everything that was said through.

"There is only one thing I was not able to figure out on my own…" Reika said suddenly.

"And that would be?" Yamaki inquired. The plan had enough holes already, and he was ready to do his part to patch up at least some of them. Yes, he mentally agreed to try the plan. From "too insane to work" it evolved into "just insane enough to work". But in reality he just knew why Reika was so anxious to try resolve everything peacefully, being her friend plus a government worker, he knew how to see through the façade.

"They won't help us just for the sake of "Greater Good", after all they've been through. We need to make them an offer they would not be able to resist." She said. And indeed, Yamaki was able to help her out with that. He knew what the aliens wanted to get from Smith in the first place, and had a good hunch what to propose to the rest.

"Dealing with children would be easy. Their parents, as far as I know, are still under watch by police. And children usually love their parents, and wouldn't want them getting hurt…" he started to say, Reika's face darkened when she heard that.

"As for the aliens… I know that initially they wanted their ship back, but since Smith captured it I have no idea where it could be…" he said thoughtfully. When he did, Reika's face brightened up with happiness.

"When I was sending some files on your behalf to one of Smith's labs, I remember accidentally noticing some info about transferring of a "strange flying apparatus" there. Maybe it's the ship the aliens were looking for…" she said. Yamaki was happy to hear that. The last piece clicked into place.

"We might as well propose to turn off the tracker that is following their movements as a token of our good faith, and it might actually work." He finally said, and Mrs. Ootori was practically shining with happiness.

"So you approve this?" she asked, still a bit unsure if she interpreted it correctly.

"Yes, I do, although barely. I ask you to be extremely cautious and not to provoke them…" he warned her.

"Do not worry, sir. I will not fail." She said confidently. Yamaki stood up from his chair and approached her. Before she could say anything he put a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly.

"Just get back in one piece. I see there is no way of talking you out of it anyway. Come, I will prepare a car." He said and they both left the room...

Yamaki knew what the reason behind such an impulsive act was, since Reika Ootori usually was a very reserved person, and there was little that could have forced her to lose composure. Like him, she rather disliked, if not hated, the digimon, and believed them to be a thread. But when Smith declared a man-hunt on everyone of the group, including children, it hit her harder than the others. She was a good, pure spirit, who wouldn't stand for innocents getting hurt.

He remembered that it was back then when she first asked for an audience and asked, no, that's not the word, begged him to convince Smith to spare the children. Frankly, Yamaki was also disgusted by such cruelty, yet he knew that in his profession certain distasteful acts are unavoidable, and promised to do everything that was in his power… But Smith was merciless. He insisted that everyone who knew too much was a thread, ignoring simple reasoning that the kids would probably be so scared they would never tell anyone anything ever again. But to Smith it was duty in the first place, and mercy in the second, if he ever had any either way. This time Reika devised a whole plan to get around it, and he knew he had to approve it, otherwise she would try executing it by herself…

… It was getting dark. They knew that the group she was sent to seek out usually made camp during the night. A car went through the gates of the underground garage beneath Hypnos and went on its way. Yamaki sent a couple of guards with her still, and instructed them to act only when the situation is clearly hostile. He felt very uneasy after she left, and prayed to whatever higher power existed for the success of her journey…

* * *

There. Done. I would like to know what do you people think about the story so far.


	14. Proposal

Starkiller reporting – mission failed. Chapter 14 – Proposal.

* * *

It was one of those quiet nights again. Our group was far away enough from civilization for a while now, so they were getting used to such a nomadic kind of life they lived. During the day they traveled by car, with no apparent destination, they just had to keep moving. Starkiller usually meditated, either to try and feel an enemy nearby, or healing his wounds. His efforts were not fruitless, as his fingers were almost healed, and he was able to hold his lightsaber again, but the wound in the leg was still causing him trouble.

The children coped better than anyone would, knowing that there is a notorious organization trying to kill them. They just tried not to think about it, and focus their minds or more present matters. For digimon it was much easier. Their whole lives were one continuous struggle for survival, and they didn't have any strong bonds to this world to worry if it has risen against them.

Renamon and PROXY were patrolling the territory around the camp. Not that there was no one else to do it, it could be said that they volunteered for everyday guard duty. For PROXY, being a droid, it was impossible to waste time doing nothing, and by patrolling he was able to do at least something productive. As for Renamon, she developed a habit to be on a lookout when things go quiet.

Suddenly, they spotted a truck on the road near to their encampment. It could have been just a simple car passing by. There seemed nothing unusual in it, a simple white van, like the one they stole for their getaway more than a week ago. But as it suddenly stopped, their suspicions grew. The doors opened and they saw several black-clad troops leaving the vehicle. They looked pretty much like Black Watch troops, only these ones didn't have white eye badges on their shoulders. Still, they were a thread.

"Looks like they do not use their trademark black vehicles anymore." Renamon noted from the bushes she was hiding in. PROXY was close enough to hear it.

"They're trying to blend with the civilians, obviously. Shall we dispatch them?" the droid asked and raised his gun he salvaged from one of the dead enemy troops a while ago. He was eager to engage in a most unadulterated violence.

"Wait, there is someone else coming…" Renamon whispered, as one more person left the truck. It appeared to be a young woman, wearing a grey coat. She didn't appear hostile, as the rest of her escort, and apparently, she didn't even bore a gun. One of the soldiers, bearing sergeant's stripes, approached her and reported:

"Area is clear, no hostiles detected."

"Good. Remember, in case something happens, do not retaliate unless attacked directly. We are not here to fight." The woman replied with a soft, kindly voice. They didn't know that all this time they were watched.

"Doesn't look like a typical officer to me." PROXY stated.

"That is because she isn't a military officer. Must be a messenger of some sort, or a diplomat. And she is flanked by soldiers, which means she is important, and she works for our enemies too, no doubt. The troops must not reach the camp." Renamon stated, as she saw the little group walking towards the direction where the rest of their party was resting.

"What of the diplomat?" PROXY inquired.

"She might have something useful to say. Move out." Renamon ordered, and the next moment there was no one there behind those bushes…

Reika's little party was advancing towards the beacon, which marked the presence of the entire group on the electronic map of her GPS navigator. As they approached closer and closer, they started to see the light of a fire burning.

"Gee, if they are supposed to be hunted, aren't they supposed to have … I dunno, some kind of a night watch or something? I mean, here we are, only a few steps away from their camp and no alert at all… Where are the guards?" one of the soldiers mused. But, before any of them could reply, they heard an all too familiar sound of a rifle reloading. Before they turned around a grim and threatening robotic voice stated:

"Drop your weapons, or you die." The voice sounded serious enough. Since the enemy was behind, he had a great opportunity to shoot them all with one volley, and it was pointless to resist.

"You just had to say what you did, hadn't you?" the other two soldiers whispered to the first one angrily.

"Hey it's not my fault!" he protested, but they all shut up when Reika gave them a signal.

"Do as he says, I think we shall come to no harm." She said, and, reluctantly, the soldiers put their guns onto the ground and put their hands behind their heads.

"Now, turn around. Slowly." The threatening voice ordered, and slowly, without making any sudden moves, the group turned around, to see to whom it belonged to. In the dim light of the moon, with his eyes glowing like car lights, and with a heavy gun, PROXY looked especially threatening. Everyone swallowed.

Before Reika was able to say something like "We come in peace", she heard three soft punches, and her faithful soldiers gasped in pain, slowly collapsing unto the ground. She thought that the sinister droid killed them off, and that she is going to be next, when she felt another presence behind her and turned around.

What she saw was not comforting. She remembered that digimon from various reports about her, and was she was able to do, but never saw her up close. She had to admit that the digimon was rather beautiful, although those deep cold blue eyes had an unfriendly fire glowing in them. In fear, Reika made a few steps back, although it was pointless, she had nowhere to run.

"Excellent work, Renamon." The droid stated with a bit of appreciation in his robotic static – filled voice.

"Your master is not the only one who knows about pressure points." The yellow digimon replied to him, and it almost looked like they ignored the only one human person still standing.

"Why have you done this?! We didn't mean you any harm!" Reika shouted, although she figured out by now that her troops were not dead, just incapacitated.

"Because they are irrelevant to us. And it depends on your answers if you join them. Now, why are you here?" PROXY asked threateningly and aimed his gun at her, making Reika raise her hands in the air again.

"I need to speak to your entire group. It's important." She explained. Renamon and PROXY decided for a second if she sounded convincing, and in the end, Renamon said:

"Alright. Follow me."

"I must warn you that if you will try anything I consider threatening to my teammates, you will be destroyed." The droid warned her.

"I am unarmed. There is nothing I could do to harm anyone, not that I wish to. Um… what will happen to the soldiers?" she asked, being concerned about her subordinates' welfare.

"We will leave them here. They will regain consciousness in about two hours." Renamon replied, and went back to the camp, followed by Reika and Proxy. In about five minutes they reached the encampment. Everyone was quite surprised to see them, and whom they brought along.

"Hey! Aren't you a bit early from your … Who the hell is that?" both Henry and Takato asked as they spotted that Renamon and PROXY brought along a woman none of them has ever seen before.

"She came with a small escort of soldiers, and apparently was around seeking us. She says she has an important message." PROXY exclaimed.

"What of the soldiers?" Starkiller asked grimly, he was not exactly happy to know their position was found so easily.

"They have been dealt with." Renamon replied and the children swallowed, thinking the worst.

"No, not that way." PROXY corrected and a sigh of relief was heard. Now everyone's attention was concentrated on their new guest. This confused her a little, and she didn't know where to start.

"You can start by answering questions. Who are you, and who do you work for?" Starkiller asked a bit wearily, it was late after all.

"I am Reika Ootori. I come on behalf of Hypnos." She replied shortly. Everyone silenced for a few moments, musing on what she just said.

"Err… who is Hypnos again?" Takato asked first, and the answer to that question was something almost everyone wanted to know.

"From what I understood, Hypnos is an organization responsible for cybernetic surveillance and warfare, and is in league with the Black Watch. Am I correct?" Starkiller asked and looked at Reika with a suspicious glare. She felt like a butterfly that is about to be pinned down. There was something nasty in the glare of that man.

"I … yes, that is correct. We were in charge of solving the "digimon problem", before the Black Watch took over. Now, our duty is mostly to monitor the situation, and locate any wild ones that managed to emerge in this world, so that the troops of Black Watch could comprehend them." She explained a bit nervously. She knew that she is surrounded by people who consider her an enemy, and her mission was to convince them otherwise.

"But recently we were not doing too well. At first it was all well and good, but now … there are new digimon appearing. Bigger. Stronger. They avoid programs designed to destroy them, and are wreaking havoc across the city. The Black Watch says they got it all under control, but in reality things are about to run wild…" she continued, but was interrupted.

"So, the Black Watch wants to use us as pawns again to save their precious city, huh? Ain't gonna happen. I signed on with them once. I know first-hand how is it like to be stabbed in the back by them." Starkiller said angrily. He wasn't that kind of person to take lightly to betrayal. Reika felt that the situation is slipping out of control.

"Although we are working in league, Hypnos and the Black Watch are two different organizations. It is Black Watch that deceived you, we, on the other hand, had nothing to do with it. In fact, we were against such decision, knowing that it would bring nothing, but a strong enemy against us, and, as we see now, we proved to be right." She lied, of course. The decision was made by Smith alone, and Hypnos did nothing against it, but to her it seemed like a way to gain sympathy for her organization. Unfortunately, she didn't lie well enough.

"You do not speak the truth." Starkiller said dimly. No one questioned his words, mainly because everyone knew that he was "the mage" around here. Everyone assumed that with his Force he was able to find out if anyone was speaking the truth. And, to be honest, that was just the case. Reika understood that lying would not be the smartest thing to do with that living lie detector around, so she came clean:

"Our goal is to ensure safety of the inhabitants of the city, and by any means necessary, even if it means … siding with our enemies." She said a bit reluctantly.

"Why should we help you?" Renamon asked. This question would have been asked sooner or later, and Reika was prepared to answer it.

"The Black Watch is a very powerful military organization. Any fight against it … is a lost one, sooner or later they will find a way to dispatch even such powerful beings as you aliens or digimon. We could be an ally against this organization, and could persuade the hunt to stop." Her words sounded reasonable, but that was not enough to be convincing.

"These are all promises, which could be easily broken. You'll have to offer something more permanent." Henry pointed out.

"As you wish. You may or may not know, children, but your parents were seized by local police due to your "disappearance". We know that all this was set up by Black Watch. They are notorious for making lives of their enemies miserable, if they cannot find a way to kill them. That puts your families in great danger. If you agree to help us out, we will make sure they would not be harmed in any way." She proposed. Grim silence lasted for several moments. These words were an indirect thread, though everyone could see through it.

"Don't try to look noble in your ruthlessness. You wanted to say that if we refuse to cooperate, something bad would happen to our parents." Rika said bitterly. Reika wanted to avoid putting the question so bluntly, but she was left with no choice.

"To put it plainly, yes. If you refuse, your families will suffer." She felt terrible when she said that. But she had to do it, for the sake of those she was talking to right now, even if she had to resort to threatening. The others noticed her reluctance.

"They sent you to threaten us? If so, you're terrible at it." Rika stated the obvious.

"Well, what are you going to propose to us "aliens"?" Starkiller asked with a bit of irony. He just was finding it humorous to hear another human calling them aliens. Reika sighed and said:

"We know that you signed on with the Black Watch to get your starship back. And that they denied you of your payment. We have tracked some data messages, referring to an "alien spacecraft", to a facility that just might be a laboratory. We have traced them and found approximate coordinates of its location. Here, look." She said, and passed her GPS navigator to Starkiller. He looked at it with barely hidden interest.

"There is something more I have to say. You may know that we keep a tracer on one of your digimon, and that is how we managed to find you so easily, and so can the Black Watch. We are going to turn it off. Consider this a token of our good will." Reika finished. Everyone was puzzled as to how to react to her offer.

"I do not demand an immediate answer. Think things over. I will find a way to contact you in three days. Use them to consider my offer. I hope you will make a decision that will benefit both of us. We all have something to gain here, and much to lose." Reika said gracefully and left the encampment. The droid offered to escort her to her vehicle, but she declined his offer politely. "At least they listened to me. We shall see what happens next…" she thought as she was returning to her transport. Her troops already regained consciousness and were waiting for her in the truck.

After she left, the group was in a bit of stupor. No one knew what to think about that proposal. It was to ally with one enemy against another to achieve both their goals and the goals of their enemies. That was confusing, and smelled like trap.

"So … ugh, what do we do? Can we trust them?" Takato was the first to ask the question.

"Right, like you can trust a lion not to eat you." Rika replied with irony. Everyone laughed for a bit, but the laugh went down after a while. The subject was still on.

"I think I know what to do…" Starkiller said while playing with the GPS navigator Reika forgot to take back.

"We raid the lab."

* * *

There, done. Hope you like it.


	15. Divided we stand

Starkiller reporting - mission failed. Chapter 15 – Divided we stand.

* * *

… "You can't be serious! We cannot raid that laboratory! They will consider this as an act of war, and that means our parents are done for." Takato exclaimed loudly in the heat of discussion. And, as you may have already guessed, the subject was whether they should decline Reika's offer and attack the newly revealed enemy base, or accept the offer, thus saving the children's families from a gruesome fate. The team split up on what they should do: Takato and Henry were for accepting the proposition. They would do anything to save their families.

"By "we" I meant myself and my droid. We are going to attack the enemy installation in any case. Whether you join us in our assault or not, it's your choice." Starkiller replied stoically, without a slightest hint of any emotion.

"It's obviously a trap. I didn't believe one word that lackey said to us. I agree with the assassin on this one. We must attack the facility." Rika hissed spitefully. She, like the boys, also wanted to help her parents out, but was too smart to simply jump into the dragon's maw for a weak hope to save them.

"I don't think she was lying…" Henry replied thoughtfully.

"Pft, please. Did you honestly believe her story that one branch of THE SAME ORGANIZATION wants to help us out against its another branch? SUCH. THINGS. DON'T. HAPPEN. I don't believe their motive." She replied stubbornly. She had a point though. No one in sane mind would believe anyone from organization with such a devious reputation.

"Hey, they switched off the beacon tracker thingie that was helping Black watch locate us. That is a proof of their good motives, right?" Takato continued to resist, persuading the others to believe in his idea.

"Supposition." Both PROXY and Renamon said simultaneously and exchanged a couple of surprised glares afterwards.

"True. They SAID they will switch it off, and we cannot confirm if they actually did it or not." Terriermon agreed. He was also not the one of the sort to run into a trap willingly, but he was ready to do so for Henry, if the need arises.

"We have no reason to believe them. Take the assassin bunch here as an example. They hired them to dispose of us, and how did they repay them? With a helicopter missile barrage in the back!" Rika exclaimed again.

"Even if they speak the truth, when the need for us will pass, they will surely dispose of us." Renamon added. The conversation came to a stalemate, with one side operating on faith while the other with facts and logic.

"I know you are not on very good terms with your mother, but … wouldn't you try and help them anyways, even though the hope is bleak?" Henry questioned. It was not a very smart move to push on that point.

"Leave my mother out of this or you will be missing a few teeth. Of course I want to help them but … We won't do them any good if we just go and get ourselves killed." She replied. Starkiller, on the other hand, had enough of these pointless debates. Their alliance held when they pursue the same goals – survival and fighting off Black Watch. Now, these goals were different. Starkiller wanted to use the opportunity to get his ship back, and the kids – to save their parents. And that meant that they must go separate ways.

"Alright. I don't know what you will do, but I certainly know what I will. C'mon PROXY, we should not waste any more time here. Let's get going." He said, stood up from the ground and started walking towards their car. The droid followed his master after some hesitation.

"But … but master! Is it wise to leave them here? They would …" but the droid stopped when meeting with Starkiller's icy glare.

"You question my orders, PROXY?" he asked with an eerie intonation.

"I … no, master. I will do as you command." The droid replied without much enthusiasm and followed Starkiller. When he opened the car door, he heard a voice from behind:

"Wait up! We're also going." The voice belonged to Rika, she and Renamon decided to follow. Her decision amazed and distorted the boys pretty much, they did not expect it from her.

"Rika?! Aren't you coming with us?" Takato asked in disbelief.

"If you have a death wish that doesn't mean I have to follow. You should follow us as well." She said. Takato looked at her with disappointment, as if he saw something that was shining like an emerald in the grass, but proved to be just a piece of worthless glass. Henry hesitated a bit, but in the end decided to follow his friend. His decision amazed Rika too.

"I never thought you would be joining this suicide. But, unlike Gogglehead over there, you're the reasonable one! Don't you see you're walking into a trap?" she asked in amazement and disbelief. But Henry only shook his head and replied:

"I would have joined even if I knew for sure this would be a trap." he said with a bit sad intonation.

"But why? This doesn't make sense!" Rika exclaimed.

"Because it is my duty, as a son, as a brother. I really don't have a choice. And neither does Takato." Henry replied. Rika shook her head angrily. Those two just refused to hear her.

"Alright, I see you've made up your mind. But forgive me if I won't come to your funeral." She said coldly, and got in the car. Renamon sighed and followed also. Several moments later, the car took off, leaving the boys alone with their digimon. It was unpleasant. It felt like betrayal. But it happens often in life. If you have to stand for what you believe in, often you have to stand alone…

The boys watched the departing vehicle in silence, as it looked smaller, smaller, smaller, and, finally, disappeared from their sight. Takato sighed heavily. Henry could understand him, he felt the same way. When this all started, almost all decisions were made by someone for them, and it was so much easier. They could rely on Starkiller's powers and experience and feel relatively safe. But now, they were all alone, and suddenly making choices became a much more difficult task.

"Do you think we'll be alright? Rika had some points there…" Takato asked his friend. Henry knew what to say, it was obvious Takato just needed some words of encouragement.

"I think we will. I believe that Reika Ootori told us the truth, and that they really need help against those new digimon that are wreaking havoc in the city. If we prove to be right, we must ask for Rika's family not to be harmed in any way as well…" Henry said calmingly and looked away for a moment.

"And besides, it's too late to change anything now anyway…" he sighed out…

… The boys and their digimon already were too far away to be seen, but Rika still stared at the window for a while longer. She knew she was probably right, her arguments were pretty logical, and had much more sense, and she tried honestly to talk her friends out of this suicidal idea. Her hands were perfectly clean on this one, but inside it felt … wrong, somehow.

Finally, Rika turned from the window. She noticed that all this time Renamon was looking at her with a concerned glare. The digimon understood everything that happened with the girl, that she was confused.

"Renamon…" Rika suddenly whispered.

"Yes, Rika?" Renamon inquired with a soft voice. She never expected her tamer to actually ask her anything like this.

"What would you have done in my place?" Rika asked. Renamon was unsure what to say to that. She spoke her opinions rarely, and if she did, those were based on a solid platform. There was none in this matter.

"We digimon do not have parents like you humans do. If I had a family what would I have done? I am not sure. Do not worry, Rika. You do what you have to do, and I will help if I can." Renamon replied reassuringly. And she saw the warmth and recognition in her tamer's eyes, a thing she saw so rarely in the past.

"Thanks… What would you have done if I was captured?" Rika asked again.

"I would have tried to rescue you." Renamon replied without any hesitation at all. Rika noticed that.

"Even if you knew you would be walking into a death-trap?" Rika asked in disbelief, and for the first time saw Renamon actually smile.

"You do not understand, do you? I am a digimon, and you are my tamer. Besides you, I have little left to lose."

… Reika Ootori came back to check out on the group a couple of days later. Of course, they didn't turn off the tracer yet, because it would be impossible to find their location if the group decided to move on. She used the same truck as before, and even was accompanied by the same soldiers. They remembered their last trip here all too well.

"Stick together, team! Keep your eyes opened! There's no telling where that sinister droid might be hiding this time!" the sergeant ordered loudly.

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir." The two remaining soldiers replied simultaneously, while looking around with their guns ready. Reika found their zealousness somewhat amusing.

"Keep it cool you three. They didn't do anything bad to us that time, they won't likely attack us now." She said with a bit of laugh.

"Easy for you to say, you weren't incapacitated the first time we were here." One of the soldiers grumped and made everyone laugh with his seriousness…

Reika was quite surprised when she saw that only the two boys and their digimon remained at the camp, and the others were missing. She noticed their van was missing too. She wondered what happened, not even presuming that the team broke up. The last time she saw them they looked pretty united.

"Hey there!" she greeted everyone as she approached from the bushes. The boys greeted her too, without much enthusiasm though, and the digimon just nodded in return. The soldier trio joined a few moments later and gave some rather questioning glares to everyone.

"Err… I don't get it." One of them said with a puzzled look on his face.

"You don't get what?" his pal asked.

"I can understand the robot guy with scary flashlight eyes and a big gun can be a thread. Why would anyone want to hunt down a bunch of kids and walking toys? I mean, look at the green rabbit thingie. How's that threatening?" the soldier asked with a rather dumb intonation.

"Hey, you looking for trouble mister?" Terriermon was rather angry from being called the "green rabbit thingie" and would have attempted to do something mischievous if not caught by Henry in time. The scene relieved the tension for a bit with a good laugh.

"Seriously, where is everybody?" Reika asked through laughs.

"We split up on what we should do. They didn't believe your words, and left. We stayed." Henry replied. He didn't tell her that the others went to raid that lab Reika mentioned, just in case. The woman, however, didn't show any signs of being displeased or anything.

"Oh well. When they will see that we were not lying about our promises, maybe they would decide to join too. I understand their motives though. No one in a sane mind would ever trust us, that's why we had to use threatening as means to get what we want." Reika explained. This explanation sounded reasonable enough, and to the boys this "diplomat" as they called her looked rather honest. Then Takato asked the most naïve question:

"You are honest with us, aren't you?" Although Henry didn't show it, he was rather amused by it. Who would tell honestly that he\she lies?

"I am complexly honest with you. And, as I told you when we last met, Hypnos and Black Watch, although working together, have some differences. Hypnos was in charge of "your case", and we only kept you under observation, although our orders were to eliminate thread. When we failed to comply they reeled the Black Watch in, and look where we are now. You are on the run, the Black Watch keeps losing troops, and several digimon walk across the city unchecked. Plus, my boss, mister Yamaki, and the leader of the Black Watch, Smith, have different views on the concepts of morality." She replied honestly.

The kids wanted to believe her, they really wanted. She gave an impression of a good and kind person. They never thought such people could work within cold mechanisms of government facilities. Even the soldiers gave a better impression, constantly joking and teasing each other, they didn't look or sound like those masked and ruthless killing machines they always imagined in their nightmares and were looking for them to pop up from every corner. They didn't look like sinister servants or anything, they looked … human.

"While many things you say sound unlikely, we trust you enough to follow. Just, even if you really are lying to us and lead us to a deathtrap, please, leave our families out of this. They don't know anything. That is the only thing we ask of you." Henry said bitterly, and all the cheerfulness from Reika's face disappeared in a heartbeat. The soldiers who overheard this stopped chatting too. "Poor children, it must be a horrible experience to get involved in such dangerous games against their will…" Reika thought and replied confidently:

"You have nothing to fear from us. You have my word…"

* * *

There, done. Another one will be ready soon. Hoping to receive some reviews.


	16. Honor before reason

Starkiller reporting - mission failed. Chapter 16 – Honor before reason.

* * *

Takato, Henry, and their digimon finally arrived back in Tokyo. The city looked somewhat strange. Even though it was supposed to be a middle of a busy day, there were barely a few people on the streets. They were just empty. The kids noticed it too.

"Hey, umm… where is everybody?" Takato asked curiously.

"The Black Watch has transmitted a storm warning throughout the region. People were advised to stay home." Reika replied shortly, while keeping her eyes on the road.

"Why would they do that?" Henry inquired.

"They are losing control over the situation. Small fire teams are not enough to keep the emerging wild ones contained. They had to implement some more drastic measures…" Reika replied aloofly. Her words surprised the kids greatly.

"Drastic measures? Like what for instance?" Henry asked, but he didn't have to wait for answer. The next moment he saw a couple of ATC (armored troop carriers) through the window. They were painted dull grey to blend in the city, and had the all too familiar white eye symbols on their sides. The answer was pretty simple – the Black Watch moved in the big guns. There was a roadblock up ahead, and Reika said to the kids and their digimon to keep their heads down while she deals with the authorities.

"Halt! This is a restricted area! State your business. Confirm your identity." One of the masked soldiers, an officer probably, said with an emotionless voice and approached the vehicle. Reika opened the window to come face to face with the patrol squad commander.

"Hypnos operative Reika Ootori. Here are my documents and my security clearance." Reika replied calmly handed over a folder with a Hypnos insignia on it. The officer looked at the documents, but was not that thorough with confirming the identity. He handed the folder over to her, and said:

"Oh, it's you. Didn't recognize you for a moment there. How're you doing?" the officer suddenly changed the tone from cold official to an amicable one. He put his helmet off to show the face, one Reika recognized rather soon.

"Oh, it's you, Lee. I didn't know you joined the Black Watch. I thought you retired from armed forces and wanted to start a peaceful life." Reika sounded rather happy to see the man, seemed that they were friends or something.

"Yes, I thought so as well. But I didn't have much luck with finding a job, since the only thing I knew was how to handle a weapon and lead a platoon. Then these guys came with an offer I was not able to refuse. The pay is good, and, well, I have three mouths at home to feed." The officer replied and smiled a bit. The troops, who saw their commander having a friendly chat with a newcomer, seemed to relax, and hid their threatening weapons. Reika and the officer spent several more minutes talking about daily matters, without a slightest sign of hostility. Unfortunately, she was in a bit of a hurry, so it was time to say goodbyes.

"Sorry can't stay for long, Lee, have things to do. Hope to see you around soon…" she said a bit sadly.

"Hey, now worries. I'm on duty too, you know. Maybe we'll be able to chat later. Just be careful, those beasts will take a shot at anybody, even us! Your civilian vehicle is more than a convenient target for them. Maybe I should give you an armed escort." The officer said more mildly this time. It was nice of him to show concern though.

"There's no need for that, Lee. We will get by on our own." Reika replied casually.

"Very well. I shall inform all the checkpoints up ahead that you have proper security clearance. That should skip you the formalities and proper procedures. Save journey." The commander said and saluted her in a military fashion. His troops made haste off the road, letting the vehicle pass through. With a steady pace, Reika drove her car to the rendezvous point. Yamaki forbid her to bring their new allies to the Hypnos itself, and preferred to give them a small outpost on the edge of the city to use as their base of operations.

"Never thought those faceless goons can actually act friendly towards someone." Takato said, referring to the officer.

"It seems you knew this one for a long time." Henry made a conclusion. Reika nodded.

"Yes. Lee's a childhood friend of mine. We both went at the same school and sat at the same desk. Those troops are not always evil thugs, you know. Most of them are just doing their jobs and are committed to the cause they serve, although, sadly, they have to follow all orders, whether they approve them or not…" Reika replied aloofly. The boys turned their heads towards the tree soldiers that were riding along with them. Those were bickering about their own things, and would have looked like normal people, if it wasn't for those face-obscuring masks they wore…

Soon they arrived at the outpost. Ironically, it was the same outpost where Yamaki used to brief Starkiller before sending them on a hunt for digimon. After some time since that fateful day passed an order was issued to retake and use it again, since the danger has passed. The heavy armored doors to the underground garage opened, letting the vehicle inside...

When they arrived at the central command room, Yamaki was already waiting for them. Unlike Smith, he didn't have a habit to appear only on a display screen, mainly because in his line of work, with cybernetics involved, he didn't earn quite as many enemies as Smith did. And he kinda got used to dealing with dubious people. First a grim-looking assassin with his droid, and now these kids. The kids and the digimon recognized him too, however.

"It's you!" both Henry and Takato gasped.

"I see you have recognized me." Yamaki said with a certain amount of satisfaction. He remembered well on what occasions they have met. Apparently, the children remembered too.

"Yes. You were that person who warned us once about the dangers of the "game" we were playing. We should have listened to you back then…" Henry replied regretfully, and looked away. Back then, they didn't suspect that such a grim and sinister-looking person was actually meaning them well. Yamaki knew what the boys felt and actually felt a little bad about it himself. Sure, he despised digimon and their presence bear him was a barely tolerated insult. But it was not his desire to make a bunch of kids suffer from their ignorance.

"Correct. Anyway, let's get down to business, shall we? As my assistant informed me, you have agreed to help us in our struggle against the emerging digimon in exchange for protection against Black Watch and for the sake of your families, right?" He inquiring, approaching the kids slowly. They both nodded quickly. A satisfied smirk appeared on Yamaki's face.

"Good. Let me inform you of the situation. Although the Black Watch keeps patrolling the city frequently, they rely on us, Hypnos, to locate any wild ones that keep emerging. Cross any of their patrols and you risk your cover blown off, and then expect half of the forces they have here to be on your tail. And considering that they have all exits from the central quartiles, any attempt of escape would be rendered futile." He started to explain.

"So how are we going to fight your enemies while evading the Black Watch patrols?" Henry asked a question.

"Like I said, they rely on us to locate the wild ones. We will simply give you and them different targets, so that you would never cross each other. This way we will keep our deal a secret." Yamaki explained.

"Wait a minute. You said that you will keep our families safe from the Black Watch. How can we confirm it?" Takato asked in a demanding tone. Yamaki understood his concern, and acted accordingly. Although there were some complications considering their request.

"They are safe, for now. They are currently held under house arrest. You can try and see them, but it would be too much of a risk, you know." He replied aloofly. Neither kids no digimon liked his answer.

"So we are supposed to trust your word?" Terriermon asked with doubt. Guilmon's eyes glowed threateningly. Guilmon was looking rather scary when he was angry, his sudden change of appearance scared a few workers, but Yamaki remained unwavering.

"Think about it. What could we possibly accomplish by killing your families? We have enough foes as it is." He replied calmly, explaining the only possible reason why they should trust him.

"Alright, fair enough, but wha…" Henry wanted to ask a question, when suddenly a door opened with a slight hiss and a platoon of troops marched in. They were clad exactly like Black Watch troops, but the difference was in the insignias they were had on their shoulders.

"I cannot afford you to go into battle without any help at all. These men will follow you, as long as you remain loyal to our cause." Yamaki explained. Everyone looked at the soldiers with a judging glare.

"So that they could shoot us in the back like you did with the wizard man and his robot?" Guilmon growled, still being angry. And his suspicions were shared by pretty much anyone. Yamaki shook his head in disagreement, and said:

"They are here to protect you. In case you would run into more trouble than you can handle, feel free to flee while they cover your retreat. Like I said, as long as you are loyal, they will obey your every order, ranging from jumping on a grenade to save your skin to razing a kindergarten with all of its inhabitants. It's your call." Yamaki didn't exactly give his troops the best introduction, but at least he was honest. The children swallowed when imagining the prospect of razing a kindergarten, and promised never to give such an order under any circumstance.

"Let me introduce your troops to you. This is SL-002, the commander of the squad. If you need a tactical advice, or have to issue an order, you speak to him." Yamaki said and the first one of the column stepped up in front. He looked a bit tougher than the rest of the bunch, and had sergeant's insignias.

"Pleased to meet you, sir." The soldier's voice sounded a bit creepy and uncaring through the vocoder.

"Take that mask off, will you?" Yamaki asked, and, with a nod, the trooper took it off. He looked like he has been through a lot, and though being not that old, he had wrinkles all over his face. His eyes were blank, not showing any kind of thought or emotion.

"What's SL stands for anyway?" Henry inquired.

"Squad leader." The trooper replied aloofly.

"What's your name?" Takato asked, and, after a moment of thinking the soldier replied:

"Zim." He replied, not understanding why the kids insisted on asking him stupid questions.

"My unit consists of ten soldiers, from ST-001 to ST-010, with ST standing from squad trooper." He added to avoid any future questions. The soldiers heard that their commander was speaking about them and stood at attention.

"While we do not have any ATC's like the Black Watch, we're not a military organization after all, you will be provided with a vehicle to get you to the target zone. But that's enough for now, you must be tired from your trip. I'll have someone show you to your quarters. You will be summoned when the time comes. As for you troops, dismissed." Yamaki ordered, and the squad turned around and left. Several moments later one of the employees asked the boys and their digimon to follow him. Still being cautious, they followed…

… They were called to the briefing room several hours later. One of the staff that arrived to inform them also showed the way so that they wouldn't get lost. It seemed that another devious apparition has made its way through the Hypnos defenses and emerged in the real world. Yamaki was already waiting for them there.

"Good that you have arrived. Perhaps now we shall see if you're really worth all this trouble." He said, being a bit displeased. It was not at them, however, it was because he was pissed off at digimon slicing through his Yuggoth like a hot knife through butter.

"Before we go, tell us what we have to deal with." Henry asked. Yamaki found the request reasonable and pressed several buttons on the display screen.

"We didn't manage to get a video on one of them, yet. But we can show you the results of their attacks… They began to appear a week ago, and were substantially more powerful than the regular ones Black Watch got used to. First squads didn't carry any heavy weaponry to take the things down, and, as result, were brutally dispatched…" he said as a picture appeared on the screen. It showed a street wrecked by battle, with corpses of troops lying around in most awkward poses, with limbs torn away from bodies. There was a lot of blood too. Takato closed his eyes, Henry turned away.

"Now you see why we have asked for your assistance. Those … monsters must be stopped." Yamaki sighed out.

"We are not like they are. They must be punished…" Guilmon hissed out. Takato rarely saw his digimon acting like that. Guilmon was infuriated, and for a good reason too. He would have never harmed a human, only in self-defense, or while defending his tamer. Those soldiers were killed and dismembered elaborately.

"For once I agree with you. If they are not stopped, more people will die. Ever since that attack Black Watch increased the number of troops in one patrol, and provided them with heavy munitions, and even armored and air support. But we fear that might not be enough. Here, a digimon emerging was detected around Naka-dori avenue. We shall not send this report over to Black Watch for interception, but instead you and your team will take down whatever came out there. Dismissed." Yamaki said, and turned around to monitors. The children and their digimon left immediately. Yamaki asked himself if using those kids as a weapon was a good idea in the first place, but quickly shrugged off his doubts with a thought that desperate times call for desperate measures, and that some risks must be taken…

… The black trademark van was making its way through the empty streets of Tokyo's central quarters. The sounds of gunfire were heard somewhere on the other side of the city, and the smell of smoke and death was in the air. The kids, their digimon, and the squad of troops assigned to them were waiting for the driver to bring them to their destination. The soldiers didn't seem to show any sort of discontent that a pair of digimon was now among their ranks, and that they actually have to protect them. Or at least that's what they thought, considering that their faces were always hidden by masks.

The van suddenly stopped, and the driver's voice was heard:

"We're at the spot. Walk with care, boys, there's no telling what could be crawling around in times like these." He warned everybody. The back door opened and the troops swarmed out with weapons ready, securing the location. After it was secured, the sergeant said that the two tamers could come out.

"Sir, I have heard some shooting up ahead. It is possible that our target is already engaged by another unit." He reported.

"Friendlies?" Henry inquired.

"Negative, sir. Most likely the Black Watch. Executive officer Yamaki recommended not to approach them." The sergeant replied.

"Let's see what's going on in there, just in case. Let's go!" Takato said and moved down the street to the place where fighting was heard. The others, including troops, followed. The sergeant had a feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he kept his feelings to himself, and followed orders. As it proved to be, he was right…

… The firefight was intense, as a squad of Black Watch troops was trying to destroy a digimon that looked like a giant snake. Their efforts were mostly in vane though. The mighty beast shrugged off bullets, which bounced off from its thick skin, and although missiles did damage, it was not enough to make the feral digimon stop. Their ATC was already lost to the creature's fangs, as they tore through the armor like through wax, and the toxic poison melted any surviving crewmen inside.

The squad fell back slowly, while firing at will, and the snake followed them slowly, as if enjoying the moment of its enemy's weakness. Suddenly, with a frightening speed it charged towards the human soldiers, with a grim intention of ripping them all to shreds. The squad scrambled, but, instead of attacking with teeth, the snake delivered a bone-crushing tale whip. Many troops fell to that blow, while the rest continued to retreat, while wasting their ammo on futile attacks.

"Men! We have to retreat and come back with reinforcements! We're no match for that thing!" one of the soldiers screamed.

"Wait! What about Sarge?!" the other one screamed and that made the whole squad stop. One of the troopers seemed to survive the giant snake's attack. With his legs broken by the mighty blow the digimon delivered, he was not able to run, and sat on the ground while shooting in a desperate attempt to save himself, while the snake savored the moment and made circles around the poor man.

"You're going to die, human sssssssscum…" the snake hissed eerily.

"Even if I die, ten more will come to replace me!" the brave soldier screamed as he tried to aim for the eye, although not quite effectively.

"Goodie goodie, more victimsssss for me to ssssslaughter…" the snake hissed back…

What both the horrible digital menace and the Black Watch troops didn't know was that the whole battle was seen from not that far.

"What are you waiting for?! We can't just leave them to be killed! We have to help them!" Takato shouted in his altruistic rage. He remembered what Reika said earlier that day. Those people, who had the guts to fight such monsters, also had families, and were sacrificing themselves in order to stop this menace from spreading.

"But sir, if they will see you…" sergeant Zim tried to protest, but in vain.

"I DON'T CARE! We'll deal with it later! Now, attack!" Takato screamed and slashed an attack amplifier card. Henry did the same, and the soldiers aimed their diverse weapons at the target.

"FIRE!" and with that scream barrages of grenades, missiles and fireballs were launched at the beast, as it disappeared behind a cloud of explosions. A painful screech was heard and the remaining Black Watch troops turned their heads to see who came to their aid in such a dire moment. The battle was not over yet though, as it would take something more than a few dozen of armor-piercing missiles to keep a good digimon down. With a roar, the wild snake monster attacked the newly-arrived reinforcements. The troops quickly scrambled, while grabbing the kids and dragging them to safety, while digimon remained to cover the retreat. Not quite as planned.

"We'll need more firepower to stop that hideous thing!" Henry shouted as he slashed the blue card through his D-Power. In a ball of gleaming light Terriermon evolved into a superior digimon – Gargomon, right before the soldiers' eyes.

"Yeah! Have a taste of some REAL firepower!" Gargomon exclaimed with eagerness as he targeted the snake digimon and unleashed a fury of bullets on it. In a shock, the snake crawled back a bit, but quickly regained its normal vicious composure and attacked violently. Gargomon disappeared right before the attack came, and the snake smashed its head against the solid ground, as Gargomon reappeared on top of the building.

"This is our chance men! We destroy that and this is over! CHARGE!" one of the Black Watchers screamed and charged to attack, followed by the rest of his unit. This seemingly irrational attack drew the snake's attention away from Guilmon and Gargomon for a moment, and that moment was enough. One of the charging soldiers launched a flash-bang grenade right at the beast's eyes. With a hiss of pain the snake tried to retreat, but, being unable to see, hit several nearby buildings.

"Fire above the target!" sergeant Zim suddenly exclaimed. His troops looked at him with amazement for a second, but then, understanding his plan, turned around and started firing. Gargomon and Guilmon also understood and opened fire as well. Because of the explosions, an entire section of a building collapsed at the snake digimon, burying it under the rubble. The dreadful scream of death and a flash signified the monster's defeat…

After the battle was over, both Black Watchers and Hypnos troops found themselves in an awkward situation. The digimon and the kids were marked as targets to every Black Watch trooper, and the Hypnos troops were supposed to keep the Black Watch from discovering the secret by any means possible. A decision had to be made.

"I know who you are. You are that renegade group of digimon our superiors tried so hard to destroy." The sergeant with broken legs, who survived through the whole thing said bitterly.

"So, will you try to destroy us as well? The guys who came after us before never did so good." Gargomon replied, and waived his Gatling gun hand. The handicapped trooper shook his head.

"No. You saved our lives, despite the fact you are our enemies. And I consider my life worth something. You're flanked by Hypnos troops, and you work together. I don't want to entangle myself in politics between factions, so don't worry, we won't tell anyone." He said and activated his commlink.

"HQ, this is SL-043 reporting. We have run into a hostile, but the thread was eliminated. Requesting a pickup and first aid at my current position." He said.

"Roger that SL-043, help is on the way. Good job. Over and out." The mission control replied and the transmission ended. With that the two groups went separate ways. Takato and Henry's fireteam didn't lose any of their own troops, and saved another squad from annihilation. They did what they thought was right…

… One of the Black Watchers watched the digimon and the Hypnos troops disappear into mist of dust, as he was also about to made a decision. He didn't struggle with his consciousness too long, however. Turning off the team channel, and putting a direct link with the headquarters, he called:

"HQ, there is something else you need to know…"

* * *

Done.


End file.
